Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Dopaminergic and glutamatergic neurotransmissions in the striatum play an essential role in motor- and reward-related behaviors. Dysfunction of these neurotransmitter systems has been found in Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and drug addiction. Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) negatively regulates postsynaptic signaling of dopamine in the striatum. This kinase also reduces the behavioral effects of cocaine. Here we demonstrate that, in addition to a postsynaptic role, CDK5 negatively regulates dopamine release in the striatum. Inhibitors of CDK5 increase evoked dopamine release in a way that is additive to that of cocaine. This presynaptic action of CDK5 also regulates glutamatergic transmission. Indeed, inhibition of CDK5 increases the activity and phosphorylation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors, and these effects are reduced by a dopamine D1 receptor antagonist. Using mice with a point mutation of the CDK5 site of the postsynaptic protein DARPP-32 (dopamine- and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein, molecular mass of 32 kDa), in the absence or in the presence of a dopamine D1 receptor antagonist, we provide evidence that CDK5 inhibitors potentiate dopaminergic transmission at both presynaptic and postsynaptic locations. These findings, together with the known ability of CDK5 inhibitors to prevent degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, suggest that this class of compounds could potentially be used as a novel treatment for disorders associated with dopamine deficiency, such as Parkinson's disease.
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PMID:Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulates dopaminergic and glutamatergic transmission in the striatum. 1476 20

Dopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter involved in the control of locomotion, emotion, cognition, and reward. Administration of lithium salts is known to inhibit DA-associated behaviors in experimental animal models through unknown mechanisms. Here, we used a pharmacogenetic approach to show that DA can exert its behavioral effects by acting on a lithium-sensitive signaling cascade involving Akt/PKB and glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3). In the mouse striatum, increased DA neurotransmission arising either from administration of amphetamine or from the lack of the DA transporter results in inactivation of Akt and concomitant activation of GSK-3alpha and GSK-3beta. These biochemical changes are not affected by activation of the cAMP pathway but are effectively reversed either by inhibition of DA synthesis, D2 receptor blockade, or administration of lithium salts. Furthermore, pharmacological or genetic inhibition of GSK-3 significantly reduces DA-dependent locomotor behaviors. These data support the involvement of GSK-3 as an important mediator of DA and lithium action in vivo and suggest that modulation of the Akt/GSK-3 pathway might be relevant to DA-related disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia.
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PMID:Lithium antagonizes dopamine-dependent behaviors mediated by an AKT/glycogen synthase kinase 3 signaling cascade. 1504 94

Sensorimotor gating, which is severely disrupted in schizophrenic patients, can be measured by assessing prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response (PPI). Acute administration of D2-like receptor agonists such as quinpirole reduces PPI, but tolerance occurs upon repeated administration. In the present study, PPI in rats was reduced by acute quinpirole (0.1 mg/kg, s.c.), but not following repeated quinpirole treatment once daily for 28 days. Repeated quinpirole treatment did not alter the levels of basal-, forskolin- (5 microM), or SKF 82958- (10 microM) stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), but significantly increased cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity. Phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) was significantly greater in the NAc after repeated quinpirole treatment than after repeated saline treatment with or without acute quinpirole challenge. Activation of PKA by intra-accumbens infusion of the cAMP analog, Sp-cAMPS, prevented acute quinpirole-induced PPI disruption, similar to the behavioral effect observed following repeated quinpirole treatment. Thus, repeated quinpirole treatment increases NAc PKA activity and CREB phosphorylation, and this neuroadaptive response might facilitate the recovery of sensorimotor gating in schizophrenia.
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PMID:Repeated quinpirole treatment increases cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity and CREB phosphorylation in nucleus accumbens and reverses quinpirole-induced sensorimotor gating deficits in rats. 1513 41

Adenosine A(2A) and dopamine D(2) receptors have been shown previously to form heteromeric complexes and interact at the level of agonist binding, G protein coupling, and trafficking. Because dopamine D(2) and D(3) receptors show a high degree of sequence homology, A(2A) and D(3) receptors may also interact in a similar manner. The present studies with confocal microscopy showed that A(2A)-yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) and D(3)-green fluorescent protein 2 (GFP2) receptors colocalize in the plasma membrane. Furthermore, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) analysis demonstrated that A(2A)-YFP and D(3)-GFP2 receptors give a positive FRET efficiency and are thereby likely to exist as heteromeric A(2A)/D(3) receptor complexes. Saturation experiments with [(3)H]dopamine demonstrated that the A(2A) receptor agonist 4-[2-[[6-amino-9(N-ethyl-beta-d-ribofuranuronaminoamidosyl)-9H-purin-2-yl]amino]ethyl]benzenepropanoic acid (CGS-21680) reduced the affinity of the high-affinity agonist binding state of the D(3) receptor for [(3)H]dopamine. The A(2A) and D(2A) receptors seem to interact also at the level of G protein coupling, because the adenosine A(2A) receptor agonist CGS-21680 fully counteracted the D(3) receptor-mediated inhibition of a forskolin-mediated increase in cAMP levels. Taken together, when coexpressed in the same neuron, A(2A) and D(3) receptors seem to form A(2A)/D(3) heteromeric receptor complexes in which A(2A) receptors antagonistically modulate both the affinity and the signaling of the D(3) receptors. D(3) receptor is one of the therapeutic targets for treatment of schizophrenia, and therefore, the A(2A)/D(3) receptor interactions could provide an alternative antischizophrenic treatment.
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PMID:Adenosine A2A receptor and dopamine D3 receptor interactions: evidence of functional A2A/D3 heteromeric complexes. 1553 41

Aripiprazole is the first clinically approved atypical antipsychotic agent having dopamine D2 receptor partial agonist activities. To evaluate aripiprazole's agonist and antagonist properties, we established a Chinese hamster ovary cell line expressing high and low densities of the long and short isoforms of human dopamine D2 receptors, then compared its properties with 7-{3-[4-(2,3-dimethylphenyl)piperazinyl]propoxy}-2(1H)-quinolinone (OPC-4392), S(-)-3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-N-n-propylpiperidine ((-)-3-PPP), and terguride (other partial agonists) using forskolin-stimulated cAMP accumulation as an index. In cells expressing high receptor densities, all partial agonists predominantly behaved as agonists. However, in cells expressing low receptor densities, the partial agonists showed significantly lower maximal effects than dopamine. Aripiprazole showed the lowest intrinsic activities. In addition, all compounds blocked the action of dopamine with a maximum effect equal to that of each compound alone. Aripiprazole's low intrinsic activities may account for the clinical finding that, unlike the other partial agonists, it is substantially active against both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
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PMID:Aripiprazole's low intrinsic activities at human dopamine D2L and D2S receptors render it a unique antipsychotic. 1589 11

Dopamine plays an important role in the etiology of schizophrenia, and D2 class dopamine receptors are the best-established target of antipsychotic drugs. Here we show that D2 class-receptor-mediated Akt regulation involves the formation of signaling complexes containing beta-arrestin 2, PP2A, and Akt. beta-arrestin 2 deficiency in mice results in reduction of dopamine-dependent behaviors, loss of Akt regulation by dopamine in the striatum, and disruption of the dopamine-dependent interaction of Akt with its negative regulator, protein phosphatase 2A. Importantly, canonical cAMP-mediated dopamine-receptor signaling is not inhibited in the absence of beta-arrestin 2. These results demonstrate that, apart from its classical function in receptor desensitization, beta-arrestin 2 also acts as a signaling intermediate through a kinase/phosphatase scaffold. Furthermore, this function of beta-arrestin 2 is important for the expression of dopamine-associated behaviors, thus implicating beta-arrestin 2 as a positive mediator of dopaminergic synaptic transmission and a potential pharmacological target for dopamine-related psychiatric disorders.
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PMID:An Akt/beta-arrestin 2/PP2A signaling complex mediates dopaminergic neurotransmission and behavior. 1605 Nov 41

Dopamine- and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein of relative molecular mass 32kDa (DARPP-32) plays a pivotal role in the signal transduction of several neurotransmitters and neuromodulators that are implicated in the pathophysiology of a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. A postmortem study reported a significantly reduced DARPP-32 expression in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of patients with schizophrenia, suggesting possible involvement of DARPP-32 in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Hence, DARPP-32 was considered as a candidate gene for schizophrenia in this study. We first systemically searched for mutations in the DARPP-32 gene in 50 Han Chinese patients with schizophrenia from Taiwan. Five molecular variants were identified, including a C-to-G substitution (g.-2036C>G) in the putative core promoter that obliterated a predictive AP-2 transcription factor binding site, a G deletion in the untranslated exon 2 (g.1238delG), a G-to-A and an A-to-G substitutions in intron 2 (IVS2+31G>A) and intron 6 (IVS6+32A>G), respectively, and a three-base pair deletion of AGA in exon 6 that resulted in deletion of a glutamate at codon 135 (E135del). Further SNP- and haplotype-based association study in 249 patients and 273 control subjects, however, did not detect association of these markers with schizophrenia. Hence, our results suggest that the reduced DARPP-32 protein in patients with schizophrenia is unlikely caused by mutations in the DARPP-32 gene itself and the DARPP-32 gene is also unlikely a major susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Nevertheless, the identification of these molecular variants should help the study of gene regulation and structure-function relationship of DARPP-32, and the association study of DARPP-32 gene with other neuropsychiatric disorders.
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PMID:Mutation analysis of DARPP-32 as a candidate gene for schizophrenia. 1675 Sep 3

Currently available antipsychotic medications work primarily by antagonizing D2 dopamine receptors, thus raising intracellular cAMP levels. We hypothesized that intracellular stimulation of cAMP levels in the CNS would have similar effects to treatment with antipsychotic medication. To test this hypothesis, we studied the effect of an acute treatment of rolipram, an inhibitor of type 4 phosphodiesterases that degrade cAMP, on acoustic startle and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response in C57BL/6J mice known to exhibit poor PPI. PPI is disrupted in schizophrenia patients, and the ability of a drug to increase PPI in mice is predictive of antipsychotic efficacy. We show here that acute treatment with rolipram significantly increases PPI at doses that do not alter the acoustic startle response (lowest effective dose 0.66 mg/kg). In addition, rolipram (0.66 mg/kg) blocks the disruptive effects of amphetamine (10 mg/kg) on PPI. At a slightly higher dose (1.0 mg/kg), rolipram also induces catalepsy. Thus, phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) inhibition has many of the same behavioral effects as traditional antipsychotic medications. In contrast to traditional antipsychotics, these effects are achieved through alteration of an intracellular second messenger system rather than antagonism of neurotransmitter receptors. Given previous reports showing rolipram improves cognition, we conclude that PDE4 represents an important novel target for further antipsychotic drug development.
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PMID:Rolipram: a specific phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor with potential antipsychotic activity. 1708 98

Group II metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptor agonists, including (1S,2S,5R,6S)-2-aminobicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-2,6-dicarboxylate monohydrate (LY354740) and (-)-2-oxa-4-aminobicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-4,6-dicarboxylate (LY379268), have demonstrated efficacy in animal models of anxiety and schizophrenia, and LY354740 decreased anxiety in human subjects. Herein, we report the in vitro pharmacological profile and pharmacokinetic properties of another potent, selective, and structurally novel mGlu2/3 receptor agonist, (-)-(1R,4S,5S,6S)-4-amino-2-sulfonylbicyclo[3.1.0]hexane-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (LY404039) and provide comparisons with LY354740. Similar to LY354740, LY404039 is a nanomolar potent agonist at recombinant human mGlu2 and mGlu3 receptors (K(i) = 149 and 92, respectively) and in rat neurons expressing native mGlu2/3 receptors (Ki = 88). LY404039 is highly selective for mGlu2/3 receptors, showing more than 100-fold selectivity for these receptors, versus ionotropic glutamate receptors, glutamate transporters, and other receptors targeted by known anxiolytic and antipsychotic medications. Functionally, LY404039 potently inhibited forskolin-stimulated cAMP formation in cells expressing human mGlu2 and mGlu3 receptors. Electrophysiological studies indicated that LY404039 suppressed electrically evoked excitatory activity in the striatum, and serotonin-induced l-glutamate release in the prefrontal cortex; effects reversed by LY341495. These characteristics suggest LY404039 modulates glutamatergic activity in limbic and forebrain areas relevant to psychiatric disorders; and that, similar to LY354740, it works through a mechanism that may be devoid of negative side effects associated with current antipsychotics and anxiolytics. Interestingly, despite the slightly lower potency (approximately 2-5-fold) of LY404039 versus LY354740 in binding, functional, and electrophysiological assays, LY404039 demonstrated higher plasma exposure and better oral bioavailability in pharmacokinetic experiments. Collectively, the current data indicate that LY404039 may be valuable in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety and psychosis.
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PMID:Pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties of a structurally novel, potent, and selective metabotropic glutamate 2/3 receptor agonist: in vitro characterization of agonist (-)-(1R,4S,5S,6S)-4-amino-2-sulfonylbicyclo[3.1.0]-hexane-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (LY404039). 1720 49

A disruption of corticostriatal signaling is believed to underlie the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia and also contribute to many of the cognitive deficits associated with this disorder. Phosphodiesterase (PDE)10A is a dual substrate PDE highly expressed in striatal medium spiny neurons. Biochemical and behavioral studies indicate that the inhibition of PDE10A enhances striatal output by increasing activity in the cGMP and cAMP signaling pathways. PDE10A inhibitors reduce exploratory activity and antagonize the stimulant response to both amphetamine and N-methyl-d-aspartate antagonists such as phencyclidine. Consistent with their potential as antipsychotic agents, PDE10A inhibitors are potent antagonists of conditioned avoidance responding. The presence of PDE10A in both striatal output pathways may reduce the incidence and severity of dopamine D2 receptor antagonist-like side effects, including extrapyramidal symptoms. In addition, by enhancing corticostriatal signaling, PDE10A inhibitors have the potential to improve some of the cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.
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PMID:Phosphodiesterase 10A inhibitors: a novel approach to the treatment of the symptoms of schizophrenia. 1726 85


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