A review of central 5-HT receptors and their function

A dopamine receptor has been characterized which differs in its pharmacology and signalling system from the D1 or D2 receptor and represents both an autoreceptor and a postsynaptic receptor The D3 receptor is localized to limbic areas of the brain, which are associated with cognitive, emotional and endocrine functions It seems to mediate some of the effects of antipsychotic drugs and drugs used against Parkinson's disease, that were previously thought to interact only with D2 receptors

Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel dopamine receptor (D3) as a target for neuroleptics.

Prolactin is a protein hormone of the anterior pituitary gland that was originally named for its ability to promote lactation in response to the suckling stimulus of hungry young mammals. We now know that prolactin is not as simple as originally described. Indeed, chemically, prolactin appears in a multiplicity of posttranslational forms ranging from size variants to chemical modifications such as phosphorylation or glycosylation. It is not only synthesized in the pituitary gland, as originally described, but also within the central nervous system, the immune system, the uterus and its associated tissues of conception, and even the mammary gland itself. Moreover, its biological actions are not limited solely to reproduction because it has been shown to control a variety of behaviors and even play a role in homeostasis. Prolactin-releasing stimuli not only include the nursing stimulus, but light, audition, olfaction, and stress can serve a stimulatory role. Finally, although it is well known that dopamine of hypothalamic origin provides inhibitory control over the secretion of prolactin, other factors within the brain, pituitary gland, and peripheral organs have been shown to inhibit or stimulate prolactin secretion as well. It is the purpose of this review to provide a comprehensive survey of our current understanding of prolactin's function and its regulation and to expose some of the controversies still existing.

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Prolactin: Structure, Function, and Regulation of Secretion

Quantitative autoradiographic mapping of serotonin receptors in the rat brain. I. Serotonin-1 receptors.

The unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion model in behavioral brain research. Analysis of functional deficits, recovery and treatments.

Prior incubation of rat anterior pituitary cells with 17beta-estradiol led to an almost complete reversal of the inhibitory effect of two dopamine agonists, dihydroergocornine and RU 24213, on both basal prolactin release and thyrotropin releasing hormone-induced prolactin release. These experiments thus demonstrate a direct interference of dopamine action by a peripheral hormone. Prolactin secretion by pituitary cells in primary culture could possibly serve as an easily accessible model of a system under dopaminergic control.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/200/4346/1173.full.pdf

Jacques R. Boissier

Papers

Potent antidopaminergic activity of estradiol at the pituitary level on prolactin release

Rotational behaviour after unilateral intranigral injection of muscimol in rats.

Age-dependent changes in the β-endorphin content of discrete rat brain nuclei

Benzamides and classical neuroleptics: comparison of their actions using 6 apomorphine-induced effects.

Biochemical assessment of the central 5-HT agonist activity of RU 24969 (a piperidinyl indole).