Publication details

Dopamine D-3 receptor as a new pharmacological target for the treatment of depression

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Authors

LEGGIO Gian Marco SALOMONE Salvatore BUCOLO Claudio PLATANIA Chiara MICALE Vincenzo CARACI Filippo DRAG Filippo

Year of publication 2013
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source European Journal of Pharmacology
MU Faculty or unit

Central European Institute of Technology

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2013.07.022
Field Pharmacology and pharmaceutical chemistry
Keywords Depression; Dopamine D-3 receptor; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Partial agonist; Treatment-resistant depression; Aripiprazole
Description A substantial proportion of depressed patients do not respond to current antidepressant drug therapies. So far, antidepressant drugs have been developed based on the "monoaminergic hypothesis" of depression, which considers a synaptic deficiency in 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin) or noradrenaline as main cause. More recently, the dopaminergic system has been implicated in the efficacy of some antidepressants, such as desipramine, amineptine, nomifensine. Dysfunction of dopaminergic neurotransmission within the mesolimbic system may contribute to anhedonia, loss of motivation and psychomotor retardation in severe depressive disorders. Dopamine D-3 receptor subtype is located both pre- and postsynaptically in brain areas regulating motivation and reward-related behavior and has been implicated in depression-like behaviors. Activity of mesolimbic dopamine neurons in the reward circuit is a key determinant of behavioral susceptibility/resilience to chronic stress, which plays a central role in the pathogenesis of depression. Dopamine D-3 receptor expression and function are both down-regulated in stress and depression, and these changes are reversed by antidepressant treatments, suggesting that enhanced dopaminergic neurotransmission mediated by dopamine D-3 receptor participates in adaptive changes related to antidepressant activity. Of note, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) controls the expression of the dopamine 03 receptor in some brain areas and BEM induction by antidepressant treatments is related to their behavioral activity. A number of experimental drugs in pre-clinical or clinical development, including aripiprazole and cariprazine, may act as antidepressants because of their partial agonist activity at dopamine D-3 receptors. These preclinical and clinical data are discussed in the present review.
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