DOI

  • Bernard Masri
  • Ali Salahpour
  • Michael Didriksen
  • Valentina Ghisi
  • Jean Martin Beaulieu
  • Raul R. Gainetdinov
  • Marc G. Caron

Since the unexpected discovery of the antipsychotic activity of chlorpromazine, a variety of therapeutic agents have been developed for the treatment of schizophrenia. Despite differences in their activities at various neurotransmitter systems, all clinically effective antipsychotics share the ability to interact with D2 class dopamine receptors (D2R). D2R mediate their physiological effects via both G protein-dependent and independent (β-arrestin 2-dependent) signaling, but the role of these D2R-mediated signaling events in the actions of antipsychotics remains unclear. We demonstrate here that while different classes of antipsychotics have complex pharmacological profiles at G protein-dependent D2R long isoform (D2 LR) signaling, they share the common property of antagonizing dopamine-mediated interaction of D2LR with β-arrestin 2. Using two cellular assays based on a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) approach, we demonstrate that a series of antipsychotics including haloperidol, clozapine, aripiprazole, chlorpromazine, quetiapine, olanzapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone all potently antagonize the β-arrestin 2 recruitment to D2LR induced by quinpirole. However, these antipsychotics have various effects on D2LR mediated Gi/o protein activation ranging from inverse to partial agonists and antagonists with highly variable efficacies and potencies at quinpirole-induced cAMP inhibition. These results suggest that the different classes of clinically effective antipsychotics share a common molecular mechanism involving inhibition of D2LR/β- arrestin 2 mediated signaling. Thus, selective targeting of D2 LR/β-arrestin 2 interaction and related signaling pathways may provide new opportunities for antipsychotic development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)13656-13661
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume105
Issue number36
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Sep 2008
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • BRET, Functional selectivity, Schizophrenia, Signaling

    Scopus subject areas

  • General

ID: 36306992