Consequences of an intrastriatal injection of kainic acid on the dopaminergic neuronal and vesicular uptake systems

Effects of 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione on nicotinic receptor subunit transcript expression in the rat brain

The nicotinic cholinergic system exerts potent modulatory effects on glutamatergic neurotransmission, an effect mediated in part by increased glutamate release following activation of presynaptic nicotinic cholinergic receptors. Ionotropic glutamate receptor agonists also stimulate release of acetylcholine, suggesting that these neurotransmitter systems reciprocally regulate one another. We investigated an interface between the nicotinic cholinergic and glutamatergic systems by measuring nicotinic receptor subunit transcript expression following administration of 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX), an antagonist of the AMPA and kainate subtypes of glutamate receptors. Using [(35)S] in situ hybridization, we measured expression of alpha 2, alpha 3, alpha 4, alpha 5, alpha 7, beta 2, beta 3, and beta 4 nicotinic receptor subunit transcripts in the rat forebrain. Following 7 days of treatment with vehicle or CNQX (1 mg/kg/day or 10 mg/kg/day), changes in nicotinic receptor subunit transcript expression were restricted to subunits that form heteromeric receptors. We found increased levels of transcripts for alpha 2 and beta 2 nicotinic receptor subunits in the hippocampus, decreased alpha 4 subunit transcripts in the medial habenula and amygdala, and increased beta 2 subunit transcripts in the septum and piriform cortex. We did not detect changes in expression of transcripts for the alpha 7 subunit, which forms homomeric nicotinic receptors. Our findings indicate that expression of nicotinic cholinergic receptor subunit transcripts are regulated in a subunit- and region-specific fashion by CNQX, an antagonist of non-NMDA ionotropic glutamate receptors.

Changes in vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2) and synaptophysin in rat Substantia nigra and prefrontal cortex induced by psychotropic drugs

We investigated the regulatory effect of the dopaminergic agent L-dopa, the mood stabilizer lithium and the nonselective monoamine oxidase inhibitor phenelzine on brain vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2) expression. Rats were treated chronically (21 days) with the three psychoactive drugs. VMAT2 gene expression at the protein level was assessed in the prefrontal cortex and striatum by autoradiography with high-affinity [(3)H]dihydrotetrabenazine ([(3)H]TBZOH) binding and at the mRNA level in the substantia nigra pars compacta by in situ hybridization. In addition, the effect of various treatments on the synaptophysin mRNA level was determined in the substantia nigra by in situ hybridization. Chronic administration of L-dopa resulted in a significant decrease (28%, p < 0.05) in the density of [(3)H]TBZOH binding in the prefrontal cortex but had no effect on VMAT2 and synaptophysin mRNA levels in the substantia nigra. Lithium treatment increased [(3)H]TBZOH-specific binding in the prefrontal cortex (23%, p < 0.05) but had no effect on VMAT2 and synaptophysin mRNA levels. Phenelzine did not modulate VMAT2 gene expression but reduced the synaptophysin mRNA level (19%, p < 0.05). The modulatory activities of these drugs, although relatively weak, may be relevant to the drug-induced synaptic and neuronal plasticity as well as to the molecular and cellular pathophysiology of monoamine-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

Compactotomy in Huntington's chorea

Advances in neuroradiological and neurosurgical techniques have lead to a growing interest in functional neurosurgical interventions for medically intractable movement disorders. The majority of these procedures are performed in patients with hypokinetic movement disorders, especially Parkinson's disease. However, relatively few interventions were done in hyperkinetic disorders such as Huntington's disease (HD), mainly owing to the lack of an adequate target nucleus. We have recently described the case of a reversible chorea in a genetically confirmed HD patient. We subsequently identified a marked bilateral degeneration of the substantia nigra as the probable reason for choreatic cessation. We therefore suggest that primary striatal atrophy causing hyperkinesia and secondary substantia nigra atrophy favouring hypokinesia were balanced in this patient, thus resulting in a close-to-physiologic GABAergic basal ganglia output. We postulate that deep brain stimulation of the substantia nigra pars compacta may ameliorate hyperkinesia in choreatic movement disorders, thus representing the first effective therapy in Huntington's chorea. Several lines of evidence in recent neurophysiological research support our hypothesis and are discussed below.

Vesicular monoamine transporter concentrations in bipolar disorder type I, schizophrenia, and healthy subjects

BACKGROUND

Previous analyses of vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2) binding in euthymic bipolar disorder type I (BDI) patients have shown increases of this presynaptic marker in the thalamus and ventral midbrain. To assess the diagnostic specificity of those findings, we compared VMAT2 concentrations between euthymic BDI patients, patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCH), and age-matched healthy volunteers.

METHODS

Binding sites for VMAT2 were quantified with (+)-alpha-[11C]DTBZ (dihydrotetrabenazine) and positron emission tomography. Fifteen euthymic BDI and 12 SCH patients and 15 group-matched healthy controls were studied. [11C]DTBZ tracer transport and binding potentials were examined in the thalamus and ventral midbrain with factorial analyses of variance and post hoc Tukey's honestly significantly different tests.

RESULTS

Analysis of variance detected diagnosis effects in binding potentials in both brain regions. Binding of VMAT2 in the thalamus was higher in BDI patients than in control subjects and SCH patients. Conversely, ventral brainstem binding was nearly identical between BDI and SCH patients and were higher than in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

The patterns of regional VMAT2 expression, and by extension, the concentration of monoaminergic synaptic terminals, differ between BDI, SCH, and a control group. These findings may relate to both similarities and differences in the presentation or clinical course of these syndromes and require further examination.

Characterization of both dopamine uptake systems in rat striatal slices by specific pharmacological tools

Previous results have shown that modifications of dopamine (DA) high-affinity uptake1 and those of DA low-affinity uptake2 in rat striatal slices were different after autoxidation of this model and in the presence of antioxidants. The aim of this study was to determine whether these two DA uptake systems correspond to two different dopamine transporters or rather to a single one. A lesion into the substantia nigra of animals by injection of 6-hydroxydopamine, a neurotoxic substance of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons led to the suppression of both DA uptake systems. These two DA uptake systems were not modified when animals were treated by reserpine or tetrabenazine, which inhibit the vesicular monoamine transporter. Moreover, they were sodium- and temperature-dependent. Experiments with specific inhibitors showed that 1-[2-(diphenylmethoxy) ethyl]-4-(3-phenylpropyl)-piperazine dihydrochloride (GBR-12935) and (E)-N-(3-iodoprop-2-enyl)-2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4'-tolyl ) nortropane chloride (PE2I), two selective DA uptake inhibitors, were significantly more potent than fluoxetine and nisoxetine (selective serotonin and norepinephrine uptake inhibitors respectively) in both DA uptake systems. However, the concentrations of these products inhibiting low-affinity uptake2 by 50% were much greater than those for high-affinity uptake1. Our data indicate that both DA uptake systems are neuronal, independent of the vesicular monoamine transporter, active and specific for dopamine. Our results suggest that high-affinity uptake1 and low-affinity uptake2 correspond to the same dopamine transporter, but would be situated at different levels in the striatal slice model. Uptake1 could take place at the periphery of the slice whereas uptake2 in the depth of the slice.

Tonic GABA-ergic modulation of striatal dopamine release studied by in vivo microdialysis in the freely moving rat

GABAA and GABAB receptor agonists and antagonists were administered locally in the striatum of intact and kainic acid lesioned rats. (+/-)-Baclofen, a GABAB receptor agonist, significantly decreased the level of extracellular dopamine in the striatum of intact rats. (+/-)-Phaclofen, a GABAB receptor antagonist, increased the level of extracellular dopamine in the striatum of intact rats and to a lesser extent in the striatum after kainic acid lesion. Pregnanolone (5 beta-pregnan-3 alpha-ol-20-one), a positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor, significantly decreased the level of extracellular dopamine in intact rats. (-)-Bicuculline, a GABAB receptor antagonist, increased the level of extracellular dopamine in the striatum of intact rats, but failed to increase the level of extracellular dopamine after kainic acid lesion. The release of extracellular dopamine, due to infusion of phaclofen or bicuculline, was totally suppressed by tetrodotoxin. These results support a direct influence of GABA on the dopaminergic terminals via presynaptic GABAB receptors, while the effects via the GABAA receptor seem to be postsynaptic and mediated by striatal interneurons or the striatonigral feedback loop.