Abstract
We have previously reported that restraint stress applied to the gestant mother results in long-lasting effects in the effspring that show an increase in the number of dopamine D2-type receptors in limbic areas on the adult rat brain cortex. Evidence that stress during pregnancy results in activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been extensively demostrated. Therefore, high levels of corticosterone secreted in response to stress by the gestant mother might be one of the predisposing factors for the changes observed in dopamine receptors in the adult rat brain. In this study we addressed the question whether corticosterone would directly up-regulate D2-type receptorsin vitro. We have investigated the effect of different concentrations of corticosterone on D4 dopamine receptor in immortalized cell lines from cerebral cortex of normal mouse fetuses, detected by immunocytochemistry employing polyclonal antibodies generated against synthetic peptides homologous to an extracellular domain of D4 receptor. The results show that corticosterone in vitro decreases the number of dopamine D4 receptors, suggesting that the increase of D2-type receptors in adult rats following prenatal stress is not related to a direct action of corticosterone on receptor expression.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen DD, J Martin, C Arriagada, AM Cardenas, SI Rapoport, R Caviedes and P Caviedes (2000) Impaired cholinergic function in cell lines derived from the cerebral cortex of normal and trisomy 16 mice.Eur. J. Neurosci. 12, 3259–3264.
Arriagada C, A Dagnino-Subiabre, P Caviedes, JM Armero, R Caviedes and J Segura-Aguilar (2000) Studies of aminochrome toxicity in a mouse derived neuronal cell line: is this toxicity mediated via glutamate transmission?Amino Acids 18, 363–373.
Bakker JM, F van Bel and CJ Heijnen (2001) Neonatal glucocorticoids and the developing brain: short-term treatment with life-long consequences?Trends Neurosci. 24, 649–653.
Barros VG, LA Boado and MC Antonelli (2002) Postnatal ontogeny of rat brain D2 dopamine receptors in a prenatal stress model, in Program No. 274.1 2002 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, CD-ROM.
Berger MA, VG Barros, MI Sarchi, FI Tarazi and MC Antonelli (2002) Long-term effects of prenatal stress on dopamine and glutamate receptors in adult rat brain.Neurochem. Res. 27, 1525–1533.
Biron D, C Dauphin and T Di Paolo (1992) Effects of adrenalectomy and glucocorticoids on rat brain dopamine receptors.Neuroendocrinology 55, 468–476.
Cárdenas AM, MP Rodriguez, MP Cortes, RM Alvarez, W Wei, SI Rapoport, T Shimahara, R Caviedes and P Caviedes (1999) Calcium signals in cell lines derived from the cerebral cortex of normal and trisomy 16 mice.NeuroReport 10, 363–369.
Defagot MC and MC Antonelli (1997) Autoradiographic localization of the putative D4 dopamine receptor in rat brain.Neurochem. Res. 22, 401–407.
Defagot MC, EL Malchiodi, MJ Villar and MC Antonelli (1997) Distribution of D4 dopamine receptor in rat brain with sequence-specific antibodies.Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. 45, 1–12.
Diaz R, K Fuxe and SO Ogren (1997) Prenatal corticosterone treatment induces long-term changes in spontaneous and apomorphine-mediated motor activity in male and female rats.Neuroscience 81, 129–140.
Faunt JE and AD Crocker (1988) Adrenocortical hormone status affects responses to dopamine receptor agonists.Eur. J. Pharmacol. 152, 255–261.
Gilad GM, JM Rabey and VH Gilad (1987) Presynaptic effects of glucocorticoids on dopaminergic and cholinergic synaptosomes. Implications for rapid endocrine-neural interactions in stress.Life Sci. 40, 2401–2408.
Henry C, G Guegant, M Cador, E Arnauld, J Arsaut, M Le Moal and J Demotes-Mainard (1995) Prenatal stress in rats facilitates amphetamine-induced sensitization and induces long-lasting changes in dopamine receptors in the nucleus accumbens.Brain Res. 685, 179–186.
Imperato A, S Puglisi-Allegra, P Casolini, A Zocchi and L Angelucci (1989) Stress-induced enhancement of dopamine and acetylcholine release in limbic structures: role of corticosterone.Eur. J. Pharmacol. 165, 337–338.
Lammers CH, UM D'Souza, ZH Qin, SH Lee, S Yajima and MM Mouradian (1999) Regulation of striatal dopamine receptors by corticosterone: an in vivo and in vitro study.Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. 69, 281–285.
Liberona JL, P Caviedes, S Tascon, J Hidalgo, JR Giglio, SV Sampaio, R Caviedes and E Jaimovich (1997) Expression of ion channels during differentiation of a human skeletal muscle cell line.J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 18, 587–598.
Marinelli M, PV Piazza, V Deroche, S Maccari, M Le Moal and H Simon (1994) Corticosterone circadian secretion differentially facilitates dopamine-mediated psychomotor effect of cocaine and morphine.J. Neurosci. 14, 2724–2731.
Matsumoto M, K Hidaka, S Tada, Y Tasaki and T Yamaguchi (1995) Full-length cDNA cloning and distribution of human dopamine D4 receptor.Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. 29, 157–162.
Pasquini LA, M Besio Moreno, M Lopez Salon and EF Soto (2002) Apoptosis in Schwann cell cultures is closely interrelated with the activity of the ubiquitin-proteasone proteolytic pathway.Neurochem. Res. 27, 1401–1419.
Piazza PV, M Barrot, F Rouge-Pont, M Marinelli, S Maccari, DN Abrous, H Simon and M Le Moal (1996) Suppression of glucocorticoid secretion and antipsychotic drugs have similar effects on the mesolimbic dopaminergic transmission.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 15445–15450.
Takahashi LK (1998) Prenatal stress: consequences of glucocorticoids on hippocampal development and function.Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. 16, 199–207.
Tanganelli S, K Fuxe, G von Euler, P Eneroth, LF Agnati and U Ungerstedt (1990) Changes in pituitary-adrenal activity affect the apomorphine- and cholecystokinin-8-induced changes in striatal dopamine release using microdialysis.J. Neural Transm. Gen. Sect. 81, 183–194.
Tarazi FI and RJ Baldessarini (1999) Brain dopamine D(4) receptors: basic and clinical status.Int. J. Neuropsychopharmcol. 2, 41–58.
Vallee M, S MacCari, F Dellu, H Simon, M Le Moal and W Mayo (1999) Long-term effects of prenatal stress and postnatal handling on age-related glucocorticoid secretion and cognitive performance: a longitudinal study in the rat.Eur. J. Neurosci. 11, 2906–2916.
Van Tol HH, JR Bunzow, HC Guan, RK Sunahara, P Seeman, HB Niznik and O Civelli (1991) Cloning of the gene for a human dopamine D4 receptor with high affinity for the antipsychotic clozapine.Nature 350, 610–614.
Weinstock M (2001) Alterations induced by gestational stress in brain morphology and behaviour of the offspring.Prog. Neurobiol. 65, 427–451.
Wolkowitz O, M Sutton, M Koulu, R Labarca, L Wilkinson, A Doran, R Hauger, D Pickar and J Crawley (1986) Chronic corticosterone administration in rats: behavioral and blochemical evidence of increased central dopaminergic activity.Eur. J. Pharmacol. 122, 329–338.
Zarrow MX, JE Philpott and VH Denenberg (1970) Passage of14C-4-corticosterone from the rat mother to the foetus and neonate.Nature 226, 1058–1059.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barros, V.G., Boado, L.A., Adamo, A.M. et al. Corticosterone down-regulates dopamine D4 receptor in a mouse cerebral cortex neuronal cell line. neurotox res 5, 369–373 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033156
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033156