Dopamine D2/D3 receptor stimulation fails to promote dopaminergic neurogenesis of murine and human midbrain-derived neural precursor cells in vitro.

The potential application of neural precursor cells (NPCs) in brain repair of neurodegenerative diseases has placed the factors capable of stimulating neurogenesis under increasing attention. Among these factors are dopamine (DA) D2/D3 receptor agonists, like 7-hydroxy-dipropylaminotetralin (7-OH-DPAT). The purpose of this investigation was to explore proliferating and neurostimulating effects of this drug in murine and human NPCs derived from the fetal midbrain. In both cell types, dopamine D2 and D3 receptors were detected by microarray data analysis and quantitative RT-PCR. Despite D2/D3 receptors expression, treatment with 7-OH-DPAT did not affect proliferation, survival, or neurogenesis of murine and human NPCs. Our data question the relevance of neuroregenerative effects of dopamine agonists for human predopaminergic cells as well as patients with Parkinson's disease.