Gait Abnormalities and Aberrant D2 Receptor Expression and Signaling in Mice Carrying the Human Pathogenic Mutation DRD2I212F

A dopamine D2 receptor mutation was recently identified in a family with a novel hyperkinetic movement disorder. That allelic variant D2-I212F is a constitutively active and G protein–biased receptor. We now describe mice engineered using CRISPR-Cas9–mediated gene editing technology to carry the D2-I212F variant. Drd2I212Fmice exhibited gait abnormalities resembling those in other mouse models of chorea and/or dystonia and had striatal D2 receptor expression that was decreased approximately 30% per Drd2I212Fallele. Electrically evoked inhibitory postsynaptic conductances in midbrain dopamine neurons and striatum from Drd2I212Fmice, caused by G protein activation of potassium channels, exhibited slow kinetics (e.g., approximately four- to sixfold slower decay) compared with Drd2+/+mice. Current decay initiated by photolytic release of the D2 antagonist sulpiride from CyHQ-sulpiride was also ∼fourfold slower in midbrain slices from Drd2I212Fmice than Drd2+/+mice. Furthermore, in contrast to Drd2+/+mice, in which dopamine is several-fold more potent at neurons in the nucleus accumbens than in the dorsal striatum, reflecting activation of Gαoversus Gαi, dopamine had similar potencies in those two brain regions of Drd2I212Fmice. Repeated cocaine treatment, which decreases dopamine potency in the nucleus accumbens of Drd2+/+mice, had no effect on dopamine potency in Drd2I212Fmice. The results demonstrate the pathogenicity of the D2-I212F mutation and the utility of this mouse model for investigating the role of pathogenic DRD2variants in early-onset hyperkinetic movement disorders.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe first dopamine receptor mutation to cause a movement disorder, D2-I212F, was recently identified. The mutation makes receptor activation of G protein–mediated signaling more efficient. To confirm the pathogenesis of D2-I212F, this study reports that mice carrying this mutation have gait abnormalities consistent with the clinical phenotype. The mutation also profoundly alters D2 receptor expression and function in vivo. This mouse model will be useful for further characterization of the mutant receptor and for evaluation of potential therapeutic drugs.