Presynaptic dopamine D2-like receptors inhibit excitatory transmission onto rat ventral tegmental dopaminergic neurones

摘要

class="enumerated" style="list-style-type:decimal">The effects of dopamine (DA) on non-NMDA glutamatergic transmission onto dopaminergic neurones in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) were examined in rat midbrain slices using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. EPSCs in dopaminergic neurones evoked by focal stimulation within the VTA were reversibly blocked by 5 μm CNQX in the presence of bicuculline (20 μm), strychnine (0.5 μm) and D-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (D-AP5, 25 μm).Bath application of DA reduced the amplitude of EPSCs up to 65.1 ± 9.52% in a concentration-dependent manner between 0.3–1000 μm (IC50, 16.0 μm) without affecting the holding current at −60 mV measured using a Cs⁺-filled electrode.The effect of DA on evoked EPSCs was mimicked by the D2-like receptor agonist quinpirole but not by the D1-like receptor agonist SKF 81297, and was antagonized by the D2-like receptor antagonist sulpiride (KB, 0.96 μm), but not by the D1-like receptor antagonist SCH 23390 (KB, 228.6 μm).Dopamine (30 μm) reduced the mean frequency of spontaneous miniature EPSCs (mEPSCs) without affecting their mean amplitude, and the DA-induced effect on the mEPSCs was dependent on the external Ca²⁺ concentration.These results suggest that afferent glutamatergic fibres which terminate on VTA dopaminergic neurones possess presynaptic D2-like receptors, activation of which inhibits glutamate release by reducing Ca²⁺ influx.