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Experimental Studies of the Effects of the Dopamine D2 Receptor Agonist Cabergoline on Catecholamine Content and BDNF mRNA Expression in the Midbrain and Hypothalamus

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Objectives. To study the effects of cabergoline on the catecholamine content and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA expression in the midbrain and hypothalamus. Materials and methods. Experiments were performed on 20 adult male Wistar rats. Animals of the experimental group (n = 10) received i.p. cabergoline (0.5 mg/kg). Control animals (n = 10) received the same volume of solvent. Dopamine and noradrenaline contents were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection and the relative BDNF mRNA level was analyzed using the real-time polymerase chain reaction after reverse transcription. Results and conclusions. Administration of cabergoline was followed 24 h later by a significant increase in the noradrenaline content in the midbrain of animals of the experimental group as compared with the control group (639.2 ± 64.5 ng/g vs. 398.0 ± 66.0 ng/g, p < 0.05), while there was no change in the dopamine level (211.4 ± 16.3 ng/g vs. 169.7 ± 54.6 ng/g). No Changes in transmitter contents in the hypothalamus were seen. Administration of cabergoline led to a two-fold increase in the BDNF mRNA level in the midbrain but not in the hypothalamus at 24 h after injection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Science Center for Drug Addiction, Branch of the Serbskii National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, Moscow, Russia

    P. K. Anokhin, A. G. Veretinskaya & I. Yu. Shamakina

  2. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    V. V. Pavshintsev

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  1. P. K. Anokhin
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  2. A. G. Veretinskaya
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  3. V. V. Pavshintsev
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Correspondence to P. K. Anokhin.

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Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 119, No. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 54–59, November, 2019.

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Anokhin, P.K., Veretinskaya, A.G., Pavshintsev, V.V. et al. Experimental Studies of the Effects of the Dopamine D2 Receptor Agonist Cabergoline on Catecholamine Content and BDNF mRNA Expression in the Midbrain and Hypothalamus. Neurosci Behav Physi 50, 830–834 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-020-00974-3

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