Dopaminergic control of 125I-labeled neurotensin binding site density in corticolimbic structures of the rat brain.

In the rat brain, destruction of dopaminergic cell groups by injections of 6-hydroxydopamine into the ventral mesencephalic tegmentum results in large decreases in the number of neurotensin binding sites in the mesencephalon and the striatum. In contrast, these lesions produce an increase in the number of 125I-labeled neurotensin binding sites in the lateral part of the prefrontal cortex despite a large decrease in cortical dopamine levels. Increases in the number of 125I-labeled neurotensin binding sites in this cortical area as well as in the entorhinal cortex, the nucleus accumbens, and the central part of the striatum were also obtained after chronic blockade of dopamine neurotransmission by a long-acting neuroleptic pipotiazine palmitic ester. We propose that dopamine inputs regulate the density of postsynaptic neurotensin binding sites through cortical and subcortical dopamine receptors. Therefore, some of the clinical effects of neuroleptics in schizophrenic patients could be partly related to changes in neurotensin neurotransmission.