Alterations in mice dopamine receptor characteristics after early exposure to phenobarbital

Carmela Iser-Strenger*, Joseph Yanai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present experiment was designed to study the sensitivity of dopamine (DA) receptors after early (pre- and neonatal) administration of phenobarbital (PhB). These receptors have been implicated in some of the behaviors which are altered by early barbiturate exposure. Pregnant HS mice were exposed to PhB (3 g/kg milled food) from the 9th to the 18th day of gestation. Their offspring were the subjects of the prenatal studies. The neonatal treatment consisted of daily injections of PhB to pups from ages 2 to 21 days (50 mg/kg PhB). Striata of treated animals and controls from both treatments, prenatal (PreB) and neonatal (NeoB) were removed at 22 or 50 days for DA receptor binding assay. Using Scatchard plot analysis of [3H]spiroperidol specific binding, long-term increase from control level in DA receptor number (Bmax) was found in the PreB mice, while NeoB mice had decreased Bmax (P < 0.001). No differences were found in the respective KD values. In parallel psychopharmacological studies, PreB mice had increased apomorphine-induced climbing behavior response, and in previous studies we showed that NeoB had decreased apomorphine induced-climbing behavior response. The long-term alterations in DA receptor number may possibly mediate the changes in brain sensitivity to barbiturate and alcohol found in our previous studies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)57-65
Number of pages9
JournalDevelopmental Brain Research
Volume30
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1986

Keywords

  • Development
  • Dopamine receptor
  • Mouse
  • Phenobarbital
  • Pre- and neonatal administration
  • Striatum

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