ABSTRACT
Dopamine signaling has been associated with behaviors that are controlled through neuromodulation, including motivation, cognitive function, reward, and motor control. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that acts upon dopamine receptors to stimulate a chain of events that lead to neurotransmission-controlled effects in the body of an individual. Signaling networking is involved in the regulation of activity of dopamine receptors ranging from the availability of ligand to downstream actors and certain mediators that work at junctions of other signaling networks, including cAMP signaling, G protein-coupled receptor-independent mechanisms, receptor desensitization proteins, ion channels, trafficking molecules, and kinase regulators, among others. In this chapter an attempt is made to summarize the basic physiology of dopamine, the genetic structure and classification of dopamine receptors, general dopamine signaling, specific mediators of dopamine receptor signaling, and the pharmacological importance of dopamine receptors.
