Heterogeneity of behavioural profile between three new putative selective D3 dopamine receptor antagonists using an ethologically based approach

Abstract

The effects on behaviour of the putative selective D3 dopamine receptor antagonists GR 103691, nafadotride and U 99194A were compared with those of the generic D2-like antagonist haloperidol, using an ethologically based approach. Neither GR 103691 (0.008-1.0 mg/kg) nor nafadotride (0.025-1.6 mg/kg) influenced any element of behaviour. Conversely, U99194A (1.67-45 mg/kg) effected a dose-dependent stimulation of episodes of non-stereotyped sniffing, locomotion, chewing and eating, with some stimulation of rearing, and reduced baseline levels of grooming; thereafter, as sniffing and locomotion declined, stimulation of episodes of grooming emerged. Haloperidol (0.0008-0.1 mg/kg) failed to promote any element of behaviour and reduced baseline levels of grooming; responsivity to U99194A was antagonised by pretreatment with haloperidol. The lack of effect of GR 103691 (> 100-fold D3/D2 selectivity) and nafadotride (10-fold D3/D2 preference), in contrast to the characteristic "ethogram" for U99194A (25-fold D3/D2 selectivity), indicated a fundamental difference in their mechanisms of action. This topography of responsivity to U99194A overlapped somewhat with the profiles of both D2-like and D1-like agonists, and its sensitivity to antagonism by haloperidol also indicated a dopaminergic basis thereto. However, differences among GR 103691, nafadotride and U99194A bore no relation to their relative selectivities for the D3 receptor, and the basis thereof remains unclear. Theorising as to the behavioural role of the D3 receptor may need to be tempered pending the identification of a range of chemically distinct D3 antagonists of higher selectivity.