Mechanisms underlying the antidopaminergic effect of clonazepam and melatonin in striatum

Intrastriatal injection of the GABA(A) antagonist, bicuculline, caused about a 75% decrease in the inhibitory effect of the central-type benzodiazepine (BZ) agonist, clonazepam or the indoleamine hormone, melatonin, on apomorphine-induced rotation in a 6-hydroxydopamine model of dopaminergic supersensitivity. Pretreatment with the peripheral-type BZ antagonist, PK 11195 (intrastriatally or intraperitoneally), also attenuated the antidopaminergic effect of these drugs but with much less potency than bicuculline. However, the combination of both bicuculline and PK 11195, injected directly into the striatum, completely blocked the antidopaminergic action of clonazepam or melatonin. These results indicate that the antidopaminergic action of clonazepam and melatonin in the striatum involves two distinct mechanisms: (1) a predominant GABAergic activation via the BZ/GABA(A) receptor complex, and (2) a secondary mechanism linked to a PK 11195-sensitive BZ receptor pathway. Recent studies indicate that PK 11195 blocks BZ-induced inhibition of the adenylyl cyclase-cyclic AMP pathway in the striatum. Since cyclic AMP has been implicated in the rotational behaviour of 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned animals, it is possible that the antidopaminergic action of clonazepam and melatonin also involves suppression of this second messenger.