Interaction between N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptors and D1 dopamine receptors: An important mechanism for brain plasticity

Dopamine and glutamate may be the most extensively studied neurotransmitters in the brain, and single components of their signaling pathways have been well characterized. In recent years integration of the dopamine and glutamate signaling pathways has received increasing attention. This research has been fueled by the fact that many psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, seem to be due to imbalances in both the glutamatergic and the dopaminergic system, and that many addictive drugs seem to affect both systems. Thus more knowledge about the interaction between the glutamatergic and dopaminergic systems will have important implications for the generation of new treatment for psychiatric disorders. This review will focus on the intraneuronal interaction between the glutamate and dopamine systems.