In vivo dopamine (DA) receptor binding and behavioural effects of the putative DA autoreceptor antagonists (+)-AJ 76 and (+)-UH 232 in rats with a unilateral nigral 6-OH-DA lesion

Summary The in vivo dopamine (DA) receptor binding and behavioural properties of the recently characterised putative preferential DA autoreceptor antagonists (+)-AJ 76 and (+)-UH 232 were studied in rats with a unilateral 6-OH-DA lesion of the substantia nigra. The main findings were a) that (+)-UH 232 and (+)-AJ 76 per se failed to produce significant turning behaviour, b) that both agents antagonised contralateral rotation caused by the DA agonist apomorphine, including a change of the characteristic two-peak apomorphine rotation pattern into a single peak, indicating that the DA antagonist properties of (+)-UH 232 and (+)-AJ 76 are retained also at denervation-sensitised postsynaptic DA receptors and — in support of this notion — c) that (+)-UH 232 and (+)-AJ 76 were able to displace the specific in vivo binding of the DA receptor agonist DP-5,6-ADTN in the denervated as well as in the intact striata of the 6-OH-DA-lesioned animals. Interestingly, in this regard (+)-UH 232 was significantly less efficient on the lesioned as compared to the intact side. The DP-5,6-ADTN-displacing effect of (+)-AJ 76 did not, however, differ between the intact and the denervated striatum. The implications of the present findings are discussed with particular reference to DA receptor sensitivity and adaptational phenomena.