An important pathology in Parkinson's disease (PD) is the earlier and more severe degeneration of noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) than dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. However, the basis of such selective vulnerability to insults remains obscure. Using noradrenergic and dopaminergic cell lines, as well as primary neuronal cultures from rat LC and ventral mesencephalon (VM), the present study compared oxidative DNA damage response markers after exposure of these cells to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The results showed that H2O2 treatment resulted in more severe cell death in noradrenergic cell lines SK-N-BE(2)-M17 and PC12 than dopaminergic MN9D cells. Furthermore, there were higher levels of oxidative DNA damage response markers in noradrenergic cells and primary neuronal cultures from the LC than dopaminergic cells and primary cultures from the VM. It included increased tail moments and tail lengths in Comet assay, and increased protein levels of phosphor-p53 and γ-H2AX after treatments with H2O2. Consistent with these measurements, exposure of SK-N-BE(2)-M17 cells to H2O2 resulted in higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Further experiments showed that exposure of SK-N-BE(2)-M17 cells to H2O2 caused an increased level of noradrenergic transporter, reduced protein levels of copper transporter (Ctr1) and 8-oxoGua DNA glycosylase, as well as amplified levels of Cav1.2 and Cav1.3 expression. Taken together, these experiments indicated that noradrenergic neuronal cells seem to be more vulnerable to oxidative damage than dopaminergic neurons, which may be related to the intrinsic characteristics of noradrenergic neuronal cells.

Dopamine (DA) is central to movement, reward, learning, sleep, and anxiety. The dopamine transporter (DAT) spatially and temporally controls extracellular dopamine levels by taking DA back up into the presynaptic neuron. Multiple lines of evidence from studies using pharmacological DAT blockade or genetic DAT deletion demonstrate that DAT availability at the plasma membrane is required for maintenance of homeostatic DA levels and DA tone. Therefore, intrinsic mechanisms that regulate the transporter’s availability at the plasma membrane may directly impact downstream DA signaling cascades and DA-dependent behavior. Acute, regulated DAT internalization in response to protein kinase C (PKC) activation has been well documented, however the physiological importance of this mechanism remains untested. Due to DAT’s critical role in regulating DA levels, It is essential to understand mechanisms that acutely regulate DAT function and surface expression, and further, how these mechanisms contribute to DA related behaviors. DAT has intracellular amino and carboxy termini, which contain domains for transporter phosphorylation, recruitment to and from the plasma membrane, and sites for protein-protein interactions. To test whether these domains work synergistically for DAT function and regulated endocytosis I made DAT/SERT chimeras, in which I switched DAT’s amino, carboxy, or both termini with that of SERT, a homologous transporter with highly divergent intracellular domains. I demonstrated that DAT’s amino and carboxy termini synergistically contribute to substrate and select competitive inhibitor affinities. Additionally, I demonstrated that the amino terminus is required for PKC-stimulated DAT endocytosis, and that both N- and C-termini are required for downstream Ack1-dependent regulation of DAT endocytosis. To test the physiological importance of PKC-stimulated DAT endocytosis in vivo, I knocked down Rin, a GTPase required for PKC-stimulated DAT trafficking, in mouse DA neurons. This study was the first to achieve AAV-mediated, conditional, and inducible gene silencing in neurons. Using this AAV approach, I demonstrated a critical role for Rin GTPase signaling and DAT trafficking in both anxiety and locomotor response to cocaine. Taken together, this thesis 1) adds to the understanding of DAT functional and endocytic mechanisms and 2) is the first to report the physiological impact of Rin signaling and DAT endocytosis in DA behavior.

No description available.

To explore associations of neostriatal (NST) endogenous levels of dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) with sensitivity of their receptors, graded doses of 6-hydroxydopamine HBr (0 to 400 μg, ICV; 6-OHDA; desipramine pretreatment, 20 mg/kg IP) were given to rats between birth (P 0) and P 42. Numbers of vacuous chewing movements (VCMs) induced by SKF 38393 or m-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP), respective DA D1 and 5-HT2 agonists, were subsequently determined. Enhanced SKF 38393-induced VCMs occurred when NST DA was reduced 97%-98% by high dose 6-OHDA (100-134 μg) at P 0 or P 3, but not in rats with 95%-97% loss in DA produced by 6-OHDA at P7 (134 μg) or P3 (67 μg). Enhanced m-CPP-induced VCMs occurred even when NST 5-HT content was not elevated after 6-OHDA (134 μg at P 10). Accordingly, D1 and 5-HT receptor sensitivity is not correlated with respective NST DA and 5-HT contents. The stage of ontogeny at the time of DA denervation may be the governing influence on receptor sensitivity.

The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system originates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and projects to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and other areas including the basolateral amygdala (BLA), prefrontal cortex, and the hippocampus. Drug use induces reward and leads to dysregulation in these brain areas and eventually to substance use disorders (SUDs). Chapter 1 introduces the mesolimbic DA system and its relationship to drug use and their relevance to each chapter. Chapter 2 explores opioid effects on BLA circuitry which is known to play a role in the emotional response including anxiety and stress in SUDs. We showed that morphine induced an inhibitory effect on GABAergic lateral paracapsular cells (LPCs). These cells inhibit BLA principal neuron output and are influenced by opioids. Opioid activation in LPCs leads to upregulated BLA output, and activation in the NAc and central amygdala which may have important implications for stress/anxiety response for patients with SUDs. Chapter 3 explores the effect of interleukin-10 on the mesolimbic DA system. Specifically, cell-attached recordings of VTA DA neurons increase their firing rate in the presence of IL-10, and in vivo studies showed increased DA release in the NAc. Interleukin-10 receptors were expressed in VTA DA neurons and signals through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase. Surprisingly, IL-10 induced conditioned place aversion in mice which may be related to depression- and anxiety-like behaviors reported by others. Thus, IL-10 appears to be regulating the mesolimbic DA system and its association with reward which may be important in understanding the relationship between inflammation and SUDs. Chapter 4 explores the DA transporter (DAT) kinetics in the presence of psychostimulants using DA iontophoresis. We showed that iontophoretic DA delivery increased DA concentration and clearance rates compared to evoked release making it an important tool in measuring DAT kinetics. Cocaine was bath applied and slowed DAT reuptake at high concentrations and D2 stimulant quinpirole slowed the reuptake process but did not show any effect on DAT trafficking, and D2 antagonist eticlopride showed no change in reuptake or DAT trafficking. Cocaine-injected mice increased locomotion and reduced anxiety-like behavior, and iontophoresis experiments slowed reuptake with bath-applied cocaine. Thus, DA iontophoresis is useful in studying DAT blocker kinetics but has limitations in studying the effects of DAT trafficking. Chapter 5 discusses the impact these studies have on society, the limitations of each chapter, and future directions for this dissertation. Together these studies explore the reward system and its relationship with SUDs. The overarching aim has been to understand the involvement of DA in motivation and reward in the context of SUDs and the influence of opioids, cytokines, and psychostimulants.

Mon projet de thèse porte sur les altérations de la réponse dopaminergique dans la maladie de Parkinson (MP). Les troubles moteur de la MP sont améliorés par la L-Dopa (précurseur de la dopamine) et/ou les agonistes dopaminergiques. Cependant, ces traitements engendrent des effets secondaires moteurs (les dyskinésies) et non-moteurs. Ainsi, environ 15% des patients atteints de la MP sous agoniste dopaminergique vont présenter des addictions comportementales avec un syndrome de sevrage, et 3 à 4% des patients traités à la L-Dopa ou à l’apomorphine développent une prise compulsive de médicament. Ces complications motrices et non-motrices des thérapies dopaminergiques, font intervenir une dysfonction du réseau des ganglions de la base. Ce travail a exploré le lien entre l’accumulation de la protéine ΔFosB et les modifications des propriétés électriques des neurones impliqués dans l’expression des dyskinésies, en utilisant une technique d’inactivation sélective des neurones exprimant ΔFosB dans le striatum de rat et de singe. Mes travaux ont également évalué chez le singe, comment la L-Dopa modifiait les taux de monoamines pour engendrer les dyskinésies. Ceci m’a permis de montrer que les structures cognitives et limbiques sont elles aussi affectées et qu’elles pourraient être directement impliqués dans les dyskinésies. Sur cette base, j’ai étudié la physiopathologie des troubles du traitement de la récompense et démontré que la L-Dopa, le traitement de référence de la MP, peut acquérir des propriétés récompensantes proches de celles de la cocaïne dans un modèle rat de la MP par surexpression de gène codant pour l’α-synucléine mutée. J’ai également utilisé des procédures d’auto-administration intraveineuse chez le rat pour montrer que le Pramipexole, un agoniste dopaminergique couramment utilisé dans le traitement de la MP, possédait des propriétés renforçantes. Ceci m’a permis de souligner que des susceptibilités individuelles sous-tendraient le développement de ces addictions comportementales. Ces découvertes ont ensuite été complétées par des expériences montrant que les altérations liées à la MP modifiaient le trait d’impulsivité des rats et que les traitements dopaminergiques pouvaient empirer ces changements. / My PhD focused on the alterations of the dopaminergic response in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Motor impairments in PD are reduced by the dopamine precursor L-Dopa and/or dopamine agonists. However, these medications elicit motor (dyskinesia) and non-motor side-effects. Up to 15% of PD patients under dopamine agonists experience behavioral addictions and withdrawal syndrome, and 3-4% of patients treated with L-Dopa or apomorphine exhibit compulsive medication intake. Both motor and non-motor complications of dopaminergic therapies involve dysfunctions in the basal ganglia network. I explored the link between deltaFosB protein accumulation and the cellular electrical properties that trigger dyskinesia by using a cell-type specific inactivation of FosB expressing neurons of the striatum in rats and monkeys. I have also investigated in monkeys how L-Dopa modifies monoaminergic functions to mediate dyskinesia and demonstrated that limbic/cognitive structures are identically affected providing a basis for a non-motor component involved in motor side effects in PD. From this, I studied the pathophysiology of addiction-like disorders by revealing that L-Dopa, the most widely-used treatment for PD, can acquire rewarding properties similar to cocaine in a viral-mediated rat model of PD. I also used self-administration procedures in rats to demonstrate the rewarding properties of Pramipexole, a dopamine agonist commonly use in the treatment of PD, and identified individual susceptibilities in the development of addiction-like disorders. These findings were followed by additional work showing that PD alterations modify the impulsivity trait of rats and that medication might worsen these changes.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects up to 10% of school-aged children and half as many adults. The core features of impulsivity, hyperactivity, and inattentiveness commonly give rise to academic underachievement, poor social relationships, and increased risk for mood and anxiety disorders. Although the relevant neurobiological mechanisms remain poorly understood, altered mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) transmission has been proposed. The aim of the present study was to compare striatal DA function in treatment-naive adults with ADHD vs. age- and IQ-matched controls. Two PET/[11C]raclopride scans, one with placebo and one with d-amphetamine (d-AMP; 0.3 mg/kg, p.o.), were administered to five men with ADHD and five healthy male volunteers. The ADHD group differed from controls in demonstrating significant d-AMP-induced reductions in posterior caudate (p<0.05). These results may support a proposed model of reduced DA tone leading to increased phasic signaling in ADHD.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2005. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

La schizophrénie est une maladie mentale grave qui se caractérise par un spectre hétérogène de manifestations cliniques. L’utilisation des antipsychotiques depuis la fin des années 1940 pour traiter la maladie ne permet au mieux que d’aider à contrôler certains symptômes et n’arrive pas à enrayer son décours. Ceci est particulièrement vrai pour le traitement des symptômes cognitifs (troubles attentionnels, de mémoire, et surtout troubles de la fonction exécutive) qui sont au cœur de la maladie. L’amélioration des performances cognitives des malades par les différents traitements ne peut être considérée comme un succès et il semble que ce soit un rendez-vous manqué tant les besoins thérapeutiques pour traiter ces symptômes sont essentiels dans la schizophrénie. Dans cette thèse nous avons étudié les déficits de la fonction exécutive dans un modèle hyperdopaminergique, les DAT-KO, qui sont des souris invalidées pour le gène du transporteur de la dopamine (DA). [...]. Nous avons dans un premier temps caractérisé notre modèle animal dans l’Attentional Set-Shifting Test (ASST) qui est un équivalent chez le rongeur du Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), un test permettant de mesurer chez l’Homme les performances de la fonction exécutive. Nous avons démontré que les DAT-KO présentent des performances déficitaires dans l’ASST, conformément à notre hypothèse. En utilisant des antagonistes spécifiques des récepteurs, D1 (le SCH23390) et D2 (le sulpiride) nous avons démontré que le SCH23390 améliorait les performances des souris DAT-KO dans l’ASST contrairement au sulpiride. Ce résultat nous a permis de suggérer que l’hyperdopaminergie, responsable de l’altération de la fonction exécutive des DAT-KO, aurait pour conséquence la sur-activation des récepteurs D1. Nous avons par la suite cherché à voir si l’on peut établir un lien direct entre hyperdopaminergie dans le mPFC qui est reconnu pour être la région traitant le set-shifting et le déficit comportemental. Nous avons modifié la transmission DAergique de deux façons complémentaires, soit par une induction pharmacologique avec un inhibiteur du DAT, le GBR12935, soir par une induction par optogénétique chez les souris DATcre/ChR2 exprimant la Channel Rhodopsin dans les neurones DAergiques. Avec ces deux modèles, nous avons pu montrer que l’action de la DA sur l’altération de la fonction exécutive passait par une sur-activation de la neurotransmission D1 et non D2. Néanmoins, la modulation de l’activité des neurones du PFC par la DA n’est pas uniforme. Elle module les fonctions du PFC en faisant appel à des neurones ayant un rôle spécialisé. Nous avons donc voulu essayer d’établir les mécanismes pouvant être mis en jeu pendant le set-shifting et ainsi essayer d’identifier le substrat neuronal pouvant être impliqué dans la fonction exécutive. A l’aide de deux marqueurs de l’activité neuronale, c-fos et P-ERK, nous avons pu établir que l’activité des neurones du cortex prélimbique (PrL) augmentait pendant une tâche de set-shifting. Nous avons aussi corrélé la modulation par les antipsychotiques du niveau de performance des DAT-KO dans le set-shifting avec le niveau d’activité du PrL et nous avons pu identifier le profil d’activation des deux principales populations neuronales du PFC, les neurones pyramidaux glutamatergiques et les interneurones GABAergiques. Nous avons pu relier ce profil d’activation avec la modulation comportementale des DAT-KO par les antipsychotiques mais aussi par d’autres ligands pharmacologiques actuellement à l’étude comme complément ou traitement alternatif aux antipsychotiques, le LY3979268, un agoniste mGluR2/3 et le CDPPB, un potentiateur mGluR5. L’ensemble de ces résultats nous a permis de mieux comprendre les effets de l’hyperdopaminergie sur le set-shifting mais aussi de pouvoir commencer à identifier le support neuronal de la modulation dopaminergique de la fonction exécutive. / Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness with a large spectrum of clinical manifestations. Since the introduction of antipsychotic medications in the 40’s, only modest progress has been made in the treatment of the disease. Currently used antipsychotics have only partial efficacy, controlling positive symptoms but usually failing to stop the mental decline of the patient. This lack of full-blown efficacy is particularly evident in the treatment of executive function deficits, which are now considered as core symptoms of schizophrenia. Increased dopamine (DA) neurotransmission is considered as a core neurochemical alteration in schizophrenia and all prescribed antipsychotics are dopamine-D2 receptor antagonists. In addition, major cognitive functions that are disarrayed in schizophrenia depend on proper DA regulation. However, there are no studies investigating the link between increased DA-ergic tone and executive function. The present thesis focuses on executive function deficits in a hyperdopaminergic mouse model, the genetically engineered mouse that lacks the dopamine transporter (DAT; DATKO mouse). First, we characterized our animal model in the Attentional Set-Shifting Test (ASST), which is a rodent adaptation of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a test used to evaluate executive function in humans. DATKO mice had impaired performances in the ASST, confirming our working hypothesis. Systemic administration of the selective D1 antagonist SCH23390 ameliorated the performance of the DATKO in the ASST. In contrast, the D2 antagonist sulpiride had no effect, suggesting that the overactivation of D1 (but not D2) receptors might be involved in hyperdopaminergia-induced ASST deficits. To further investigate a possible causal link between elevated DA and ASST deficits we have induced a hyperdopaminergic state selectively in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the region involved in executive function. This was done (i) pharmacologically, with local microinfusions of the DAT inhibitor GBR12935; (ii) optogenetically, by generating and utilising a novel transgenic tool the DATcre/ChR2 mice which express Channel-Rhodopsin selectively in DA-ergic neurons. In both constructs, PFC hyperdopaminergia resulted in ASST deficits. These, were reversed with SCH23390 but not with sulpiride, clearly establishing a role for D1 receptors in the deleterious effects of PFC hyperdopaminergia on executive function. It has been postulated that dopamine modulates PFC synaptic plasticity and associated cognitive functions through two distinct but interconnected neuronal populations: glutamatergic (Glu-) pyramidal neurons and GABA- interneurons. Immunocytochemistry experiments combining neuronal activation markers (p-ERK; c-fos) and selective labelling of Glu- versus GABA- neurons allowed to parse the role of these two populations in the ASST. A balaced Glu- versus GABA- activation was necessary for a succesful ASST performance. A dysregulated pattern of Glu- versus GABA- activation correlated with ASST deficits, leading us to speculate a putative link between cortical hyperdopaminergia and cortical Gluhypoactivation. Interestingly, glutamatergic ligands such as the mGluR2/3 agonist LY3979268 and the mGluR5 potentiator CDPPB (which are under current investigation in schizophrenia) corrected both the behavioral deficits and the altered neuronal activation pattern of hyperdopaminergic mice in the ASST. Overall, this work: (i) demonstrates for the first time a causal link between PFC hyperdopaminergia and executive deficits; (ii) proposes and validates a new model to study the cellular, molecular and synaptic mechanisms underlying executive dysfunction; (iii) suggests D1 receptor antagonism, in adjunct with current antipsychotic medications, as a novel therapeutic strategy to treat cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

No description available.