Dopamine receptors belong to the family of G protein-coupled receptors. On the basis of the homology between these receptors, three different dopamine receptors (D1, D2, D3) have been cloned. Dopamine receptors are primary targets for drugs used in the treatment of psychomotor disorders such as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. In the management of socially withdrawn and treatment-resistant schizophrenics, clozapine is one of the most favoured antipsychotics because it does not cause tardive dyskinesia. Clozapine, however, has dissociation constants for binding to D2 and D3 that are 4 to 30 times the therapeutic free concentration of clozapine in plasma water. This observation suggests the existence of other types of dopamine receptors which are more sensitive to clozapine. Here we report the cloning of a gene that encodes such a receptor (D4). The D4 receptor gene has high homology to the human dopamine D2 and D3 receptor genes. The pharmacological characteristics of this receptor resembles that of the D2 and D3 receptors, but its affinity for clozapine is one order of magnitude higher. Recognition and characterization of this clozapine neuroleptic site may prove useful in the design of new types of drugs.

To investigate whether polymorphic forms of the human dopamine D4 receptor have different functional characteristics, we have stably expressed cDNAs of the D4 .2, D4 .4, and D4 .7 isoforms in several cell lines . Chinese hamster ovary CHO-K1 cell lines expressing D4 receptor variants displayed pharmacological profiles that were in close agreement with previous data from transiently expressed D4 receptors in COS-7 cells . Dopamine stimulation of the D4 receptors resulted in a concentration-dependent inhibition of the forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels . The potency of dopamine to inhibit cAMP formation was about twofold reduced for D4 .7 (EC so of -37 nM) compared with the D4 .2 and D4 .4 variants (EC SO of -16 nM) . Antagonists block the dopamine-mediated inhibition of cAMP formation with a rank order of potency of emonapride > haloperidol = clozapine > raclopride . There was no obvious correlation between the efficacy of inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cAMP levels and the D4 subtypes . Dopamine could completely reverse prostaglandin E 2 -stimulated cAMP levels for all three D4 receptor variants . Deletion of the repeat sequence does not affect functional activity of the receptor . The data presented indicate that the polymorphic repeat sequence causes only small changes in the ability of the D4 receptor to block cAMP production in CHO cells . Key Words : Dopamine receptors-D4-Cyclic AMP-Variants .

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Dopamine receptors are classified into D1 and D2 subtypes on the basis of their pharmacological and biochemical characteristics. The D2 dopamine receptor has been implicated in the pathophysiology and treatment of movement disorders, schizophrenia and drug addiction. The D2 dopamine receptor interacts with guanine nucleotide-binding proteins to induce second messenger systems. Other members of the family of receptors that are coupled to G proteins share a significant similarity in primary amino-acid sequence and exhibit an archetypical topology predicted to consist of seven putative transmembrane domains. We have taken advantage of the expected nucleotide sequence similarities among members of this gene family to isolate genes coding for new receptors. Using the hamster beta 2-adrenergic receptor gene as a hybridization probe we have isolated related genes including a cDNA encoding the rat D2 dopamine receptor. This receptor has been characterized on the basis of three criteria: the deduced amino-acid sequence which reveals that it is a member of the family of G-protein-coupled receptors; the tissue distribution of the mRNA which parallels that of the D2 dopamine receptor; and the pharmacological profile of mouse fibroblast cells transfected with the cDNA.