Summary
To clarify the cause of the age-related decrease in the responsiveness to L-DOPA seen in parkinsonian patients, we studied age-related changes in the mRNA levels of dopamine receptors (D1, D2) and of G proteins (Gs, Gi, Go) in 22 control human brains aged 50–105 years. Neither the mRNA levels of dopamine receptors or of the G proteins changed with age. Another factor in the receptor-G protein casccade, such as guanine nucleotide binding, may cause the age-related decrease in responsiveness.
References
Blin J, Dubious B, Bonnet AM, Vidailhet M, Brandabur M, Agid Y (1991) Does ageing aggravate parkinsonian disability? J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 54: 780–782
Butkerait P, Friedman E (1993) Repeated reserpine increases striatal dopamine receptor and guanine nucleotide binding protein RNA. J Neurochem 60: 566–571
Caraceni T, Scigliano G, Musicco M (1991) The occurrence of motor fluctuations in parkinsonian patients treated long term with levodopa. Neurology 41: 380–384
Chomczynski P, Sacchi N (1987) Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. Anal Biochem 162: 156–159
Feldman RD, Limbird LE, Nadeau J, Robertson D, Wood AJJ (1984) Alterations in leukocyte β-receptor affinity with aging. A potential explanation for altered β-adrenergic sensitivity in the elderly. N Engl J Med 310: 815–819
Gilmore JH, Lawler CP, Eaton AM, Mailman RB (1993) Postmortem stability of dopamine D1 receptor mRNA and D1 receptors. Mol Brain Res 18: 290–296
Guttman M, Seeman P, Reynolds GP, Riederer P, Jellinger K, Tourtellotte WW (1986) Dopamine D2 receptor density remains constant in treated Parkinson's disease. Ann Neurol 19: 487–492
Han Z, Kuyatt BL, Kochman KA, DeSouza EB, Roth GS (1989) Effects of aging on concentrations of D2-receptor-containing neurons in the rat striatum. Brain Res 498: 299–307
Henry JM, Roth GS (1986) Modulation of rat striatal membrane fluidity: effects on age-related differences in dopamine receptor concentrations. Life Sci 39: 1223–1229
Iacopino AM, Christakos S (1990) Specific reduction of calcium-binding protein (28-kilodalton calbindin-D) gene expression in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87: 4078–4082
Kostic V, Przedborski S, Flaster E, Sternic N (1991) Early development of levodopa induced dyskinesias and response fluctuations in young-onset Parkinson's disease. Neurology 41: 202–205
Mesco ER, Joseph JA, Blake MJ, Roth GS (1991) Loss of D2 receptors during aging is partially due to decreased levels of mRNA. Brain Res 545: 355–357
Mesco ER, Carlson SG, Joseph JA, Roth GS (1993) Decreased striatal D2 dopamine receptor mRNA synthesis during aging. Mol Brain Res 17: 160–162
Murata M, Kanazawa I (1993) Repeated L-DOPA administration reduces the ability of dopamine storage and abolishes the supersensitivity of dopamine receptors in the striatum of intact rat. Neurosci Res 16: 15–23
Murata M, Nakura H, Yamanouchi H (1994) The effect of aging on the development of the “wearing-off” phenomenon. Clin Neurol 34: 1400
O'Boyle KM, Waddington JL (1984) Loss of rat striatal dopamine receptors with aging is selective for D-2 but not D-1 sites: association with increased non-specific binding of the D-1 ligand [3H] piflutixol. Eur J Pharmacol 105: 171–174
Palacios JM, Landwehrmeyer B, Mengod G (1993) Brain dopamine receptors: characterization, distribution, and alteration in disease. In: Jankovic J, Tolosa E (eds) Parkinson's disease and movement disorders, 2nd edn. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, p 35
Randall PK, Severson JA, Finch CE (1981) Aging and the regulation of striatal dopaminergic mechanisms in mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 219: 695–700
Rinne JO (1987) Muscarinic and dopaminergic receptors in the aging human brain. Brain Res 404: 162–168
Ross BM, Knowler JT, McCulloch J (1992) On the stability of messenger RNA and ribosomal RNA in the brains of control human subjects and patients with Alzheimer's disease. J Neurochem 58: 1810–1819
Roth GS, Joseph JA (1994) Age-related changes in transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation of the dopaminergic system. Life Sci 55: 2031–2035
Roos RAC, Vredevoogd CB, van der Velde EA (1990) Response fluctuations in Parkinson's disease. Neurology 40: 1344–1346
Sakata M, Farooqui SM, Prasad C (1992) Post-transcriptional regulation of loss of rat striatal D2 dopamine receptor during aging. Brain Res 575: 309–314
Severson JA, Finch CE (1980) Reduced dopaminergic binding during aging in the rodent striatum. Brain Res 192: 147–162
Severson JA, Marcusson J, Winblad B, Finch CE (1982) Age-correlated loss of dopaminergic binding sites in human basal ganglia. J Neurochem 39: 1623–1631
Severson JA, Randall PK (1985) D-2 dopamine receptors in aging mouse striatum: determination of high- and low-affinity agonist binding sites. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 233: 361–368
Strosberg AD (1988) Structure/function relationship of proteins belonging to the family of receptors coupled to GTP-binding proteins. Eur J Biochem 196: 1–10
Wong DF, Wagner HN Jr, Dannals RF, Links JM, Frost J, Ravert HT, Wilson AA, Rosenbaum AE, Gjedde A, Douglass KH, Petronis JD, Folstein MF, Toung JKT, Burns HD, Kuhar MJ (1984) Effects of age on dopamine and serotonin receptors measured by positron tomography in the living human brain. Science 226: 1393–1396
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Murata, M., Aihara, Y., Yamanouchi, H. et al. Age-related decrease in responsiveness to L-DOPA is not due to changes in dopamine receptor mRNAs or G protein mRNAs. J. Neural Transmission 103, 343–348 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01271245
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01271245