Modulation of inhibition of return by the dopamine D2 receptor agonist bromocriptine depends on individual DAT1 genotype

Cereb Cortex. 2012 May;22(5):1133-8. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhr185. Epub 2011 Jul 28.

Abstract

Involuntary visual spatial attention is captured when a salient cue appears in the visual field. If a target appears soon after the cue, response times to targets at the cue location are faster relative to other locations. However, after longer cue-target intervals, responses to targets at the cue location are slower, due to inhibition of return (IOR). IOR depends on striatal dopamine (DA) levels: It varies with different alleles of the DA transporter gene DAT1 and is reduced in patients with Parkinson's disease, a disease characterized by reduced striatal dopaminergic transmission. We examined the role of DA in involuntary attention and IOR by administering the DA D2 receptor-specific agonist bromocriptine to healthy human subjects. There was no effect of either DAT1 genotype or bromocriptine on involuntary attention, but participants with DAT1 alleles predicting higher striatal DA had a larger IOR. Furthermore, bromocriptine increased the magnitude of IOR in participants with low striatal DA but abolished the IOR in subjects with high striatal DA. This inverted U-shaped pattern resembles previously described relationships between DA levels and performance on cognitive tasks and suggests an involvement of striatal DA in IOR that does not include a role in involuntary attention.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Attention / drug effects
  • Attention / physiology
  • Bromocriptine / pharmacology*
  • Corpus Striatum / metabolism
  • Cross-Over Studies
  • Dopamine / metabolism*
  • Dopamine Agonists / pharmacology*
  • Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / genetics*
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Female
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neural Inhibition / drug effects
  • Neural Inhibition / genetics*
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Receptors, Dopamine D2 / agonists
  • Visual Perception / drug effects
  • Visual Perception / physiology
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Dopamine Agonists
  • Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Receptors, Dopamine D2
  • SLC6A3 protein, human
  • Bromocriptine
  • Dopamine