Back to Search
Start Over
The importance of the adenosine a2a receptor-dopamine d2 receptor interaction in drug addiction
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Drug addiction is a serious brain disorder with somatic, psychological, psychiatric, socio-economic and legal implications in the developed world. Illegal (e.g., psychostimulants, opioids, cannabinoids) and legal (alcohol, nicotine) drugs of abuse create a complex behavioral pattern composed of drug intake, withdrawal, seeking and relapse. One of the hallmarks of drugs that are abused by humans is that they have different mechanisms of action to increase dopamine (DA) neurotransmission within the mesolimbic circuitry of the brain and indirectly activate DA receptors. Among the DA receptors, D(2) receptors are linked to drug abuse and addiction because their function has been proven to be correlated with drug reinforcement and relapses. The recognition that D(2) receptors exist not only as homomers but also can form heteromers, such as with the adenosine (A)(2A) receptor, that are pharmacologically and functionally distinct from their constituent receptors, has significantly expanded the range of potential drug targets and provided new avenues for drug design in the search for novel drug addiction therapies. The aim of this review is to bring current focus on A(2A) receptors, their physiology and pharmacology in the central nervous system, and to discuss the therapeutic relevance of these receptors to drug addiction. We concentrate on the contribution of A(2A) receptors to the effects of different classes of drugs of abuse examined in preclinical behavioral experiments carried out with pharmacological and genetic tools. The consequences of chronic drug treatment on A(2A) receptor-assigned functions in preclinical studies are also presented. Finally, the neurochemical mechanism of the interaction between A(2A) receptors and drugs of abuse in the context of the heteromeric A(2A)-D(2) receptor complex is discussed. Taken together, a significant amount of experimental analyses provide evidence that targeting A(2A) receptors may offer innovative translational strategies for combating drug addiction.
- Subjects :
- Drug
Receptor complex
Adenosine A2 Receptor Agonists
Receptor, Adenosine A2A
Substance-Related Disorders
media_common.quotation_subject
striatum
neurochemistry
Pharmacology
Biochemistry
A2A-D2 receptor interaction
Nicotine
cannabinoids
Neurochemical
Dopamine
Drug Discovery
Protein Interaction Mapping
medicine
Animals
Humans
adenosine (A)2A receptors
Receptor
media_common
licit and illicit drugs of abuse
Behavior, Animal
business.industry
Receptors, Dopamine D2
Addiction
Organic Chemistry
medicine.disease
Adenosine A2 Receptor Antagonists
Substance abuse
Disease Models, Animal
socio-economic
psychiatric
behavioral effects
Molecular Medicine
psychological
business
medicine.drug
Protein Binding
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5280c85a91c35579ebfdc7d03dbcc23e