D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNA is altered to a greater extent by blockade of glutamate receptors than by blockade of dopamine receptors.

To study further the molecular mechanisms by which glutamate and dopamine interact to regulate the functions of the basal ganglia, the effects of persistently inhibiting dopamine receptors and glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors on the density of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors and on the level of their transcripts were examined in mouse brain. To block dopamine receptors, mice were treated with N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline once daily for two and six days, or were treated with fluphenazine-N-mustard once daily for five days. To block N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, mice were treated with dizocilpine by continuous infusion with osmotic mini-pumps for two and six days. The density of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors was measured by receptor autoradiography, and the level of D1 and D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNA was measured by in situ hybridization histochemistry. The results showed that N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline blocked about 90% of both D1 and D2 dopamine receptors, but had no significant effect on the level of either D1 or D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNA. Fluphenazine-N-mustard, which was as effective as N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline in blocking D2 dopamine receptors but had little effect on D1 dopamine receptors, also had no significant effect on the level of D1 and D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNAs. By contrast, continuously infusing dizocilpine significantly decreased the levels of D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNA in striatum, nucleus accumbens and olfactory tubercle. Dizocilpine also caused small decreases in the density of D2 dopamine receptors, but only in posterior striatum was this decrease statistically significant. Dizocilpine slightly and transiently decreased the levels of D1 dopamine receptor messenger RNA in striatum but had no significant effect on the density of D1 dopamine receptors in any region examined. This study demonstrates that persistent blockade of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors has relatively little effect on the levels of D1 and D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNA, but that blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors produces a rapid and profound decrease in the levels of D2 dopamine receptor messenger RNA and a smaller decrease in the density of D2 dopamine receptors. These results suggest that N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors play an important role in the expression of D2 dopamine receptors in basal ganglia.