Dopamine receptor genes found, cloned.Dopamine receptor Dopamine receptors are a class of metabotropic G protein-coupled receptors that are prominent in the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS). The neurotransmitter dopamine is the primary endogenous ligand for dopamine receptors. genes found, cloned Scientists have plucked from human cells two genes that guide production of molecular switches important in schizophrenia and Parkinsonhs disease. With the genes in hand, the researchers have grown cultured cells engineered to contain the switches, which respond to a chemical messenger called dopamine dopamine (dōp`əmēn), one of the intermediate substances in the biosynthesis of epinephrine and norepinephrine. See catecholamine. dopamine One of the catecholamines, widely distributed in the central nervous system. . The feat promises to simplify studies of the switches' functions and speed development of new drugs. For years, neuroscientists and psychologists have been frustrated by their lack of tools to investigate dopamine, a neurochemical neu·ro·chem·is·try n. The study of the chemical composition and processes of the nervous system and the effects of chemicals on it. neu intimately involved in such diverse functions as motor coordination and the experience of pleasure. Dopamine shortages in certain brain regions cause Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease or Parkinsonism, degenerative brain disorder first described by the English surgeon James Parkinson in 1817. When there is no known cause, the disease usually appears after age 40 and is referred to as Parkinson's disease. , but nobody knows why these shortages occur. And while some schizophrenia drugs tweak the dopamine system, scientists still don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. why these drugs help. In 1988, researchers isolated and inserted into cultured cells the gene for a cell-surface receptor called D2, which responds to dopamine by inhibiting certain chemical reactions inside cells. Now, in the Sept. 6 NATURE, three separate research teams say they've cloned a related protein, D1, that responds to dopamine by stimulating, rather than inhibiting, those same cellular reactions. The teams were led by Allen Dearry at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., Olivier Civelli of the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, and Brian F. O'Dowd of the University of Toronto Research at the University of Toronto has been responsible for the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single-lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G-suit, the first practical electron microscope, the first cloning of T-cells, . And in the Sept. 13 NATURE, Pierre Sokoloff and his colleagues at INSERM INSERM Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (French Institute of Health and Medical Research) in Paris, France, report cloning a third, previously unrecognized dopamine receptor gene, which they call D3. Researchers say experiments on cultured cells bearing the newly cloned genes could simplify laboratory investigations of the molecular mechanisms underlying Parkinson's and schizophrenia. They add that cultured cells engineered to bear both stimulatory and inhibitory dopamine receptors could provide new insights into dopamine regulation and aid in the development of new drugs to alter dopamine's activity. |
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