Maturational aspects of the dopaminergic system: ontogenesis of high affinity dopamine binding to neural membrane fragments of the rat brain.

High affinity binding of [3H]-dopamine was measured in membrane fractions prepared from cerebral cortex, amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus and reticular formation of female rats aged 1 to 260 days old. [3H]-dopamine bound with approximately 30 x 10(-9) M affinity to neural membrane fractions of female brains of any age. [3H]-dopamine binding increased with age either in a sigmoid fashion, as was the case in the amygdala, hypothalamus and reticular formation, or in a parabolic fashion, as was the case in the cerebral cortex and thalamus, the adult levels being reached on the 30th and 70th day of life respectively.