The Third Dopamine Receptor (D3): New Perspectives in Therapeutics

Until recently it was widely accepted that dopamine affects its target cells in brain and endocrine tissues via interaction with only two receptor subtypes, termed D1 and D2, differing from each other by their pharmacological specificity and their opposite effect on adenylate cyclase (Kebabian and Calne 1979). It was also generally admitted that the therapeutic efficacy of antipsychotics derived from their high affinity binding to D2 receptors.