Localization of putative dopamine D2-like receptors in the chick retina, using in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry.

The actions of dopamine are mediated by 5 or more receptor subtypes, any of which may be coupled by G-proteins to adenylate cyclase (D1-family: stimulatory, D2-family: inhibitory or no action). Postnatal ocular growth in the chick is a vision-dependent mechanism which involves D2-type receptors in either the retina or the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Although the dopaminergic amacrine cells are well described in the chick retina, only D2-receptors, but not D3- and D4-receptors have been clearly localized, and the cells that express them have not been identified. In this study we showed that immunoreactive D2/3-receptor protein is localized to the photoreceptor inner segments, outer and inner plexiform layer and ganglion cell layer, as described previously (Wagner et al., J. Comp. Neurol., 330 (1993) 1-13). D2-receptor mRNA was localized to cell bodies in all nuclear layers of the retina, whereas D4-receptor mRNA was restricted to the inner half of the retina. Immunoreactive D2-type receptors and their mRNA were observed also in the basal region of the RPE. Because of the widespread distribution of both D2- and D4-receptor mRNA in the chick retina and RPE and the lack of D3- and D4-receptor-specific antibodies, we were unable to identify which of the D2/3/4-receptor-bearing cells are involved in controlling ocular growth.