Molecular biology of dopamine receptors

The application of modern molecular biological methods has had an increasing and dramatic impact upon the discipline of molecular neuropharmacology. This is particularly true for the study of neurotransmitter receptors, where the use of recombinant DNA techniques has resulted in the cloning of multiple and sometimes unexpected receptor subtypes for a given neurotransmitter and, in some cases, the cloning of receptors for which no neurotransmitter is known. Within the past couple of years, it has become readily apparent that dopamine receptors will be no exception to this trend. Five different dopamine receptors have now been cloned and identified using molecular biological techniques, while only a few years ago only two receptor subtypes were thought to exist. David Sibley and Frederick Monsma review the molecular characteristics of the recently cloned dopamine receptors and discuss prospects for the cloning and identification of additional subtypes in this receptor family.