[Dopamine D4 receptor hypoxia sensitivity and child psychiatric disorders].

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most frequent child psychiatric problems with a complex genetic and environmental background. According to the prevailing view, main factors of the disorder are prefrontal dopamine deficiency and incomplete central dopaminergic functioning. Twin studies suggest substantial heritability in the background of the disease, and the studied candidate genes involve components of the dopamine system.

Hypoxia-induced transcription of dopamine D3 and D4 receptors in human neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cells.

Background: Dopaminergic pathways that influence mood and behaviour are severely affected in cerebral hypoxia. In contrast, hypoxia promotes the differentiation of dopaminergic neurons. In order to clarify the hypoxic sensitivity of key dopaminergic genes, we aimed to study their transcriptional regulation in the context of neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cell lines exposed to 1% hypoxia.