d hippocampal neurons, suggesting a possible relationship between neuronal activity and mitochondrial movement. In the same study, we demonstrated the importance of the AktGSK3b signaling cascade in the control of mitochondrial trafficking in response to 5-HT signaling. Direct inhibition of Akt suppressed mitochondrial trafficking, whereas inhibition of GSK3b, which is directly phosphorylated, and thus inhibited, by Akt, enhanced trafficking. These results indicate a general role for this pathway in the control of mitochondrial movement, and suggest that other signals converging on the Akt-GSK3b pathway may also affect the trafficking of mitochondria. Interestingly, dopamine has recently been shown to act through the Akt-GSK3b pathway in striatal neurons. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that is involved in many aspects of neural function, including motor activity, emotion, reward, sleep, and learning. Although it has been suggested that the effects of dopamine in disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia are linked to impaired mitochondrial function, an influence of dopamine on mitochondrial movement has not been reported. With the foregoing considerations in mind, we decided to investigate the effect of dopamine on mitochondrial trafficking. Based on the analysis of data from time-lapse imaging of cultured hippocampal neurons, we report here that dopamine has a net inhibitory effect on mitochondrial movement. Specifically, whereas activation of the D2 receptor inhibited the movement of Dopamine and Mitochondria mitochondria, activation of the D1 receptor promoted the movement of mitochondria. Consistent with their effects on mitochondrial motility, dopamine agonists and antagonists also showed opposing effects on the Akt-GSK3b signaling cascade, the same pathway that is activated by 5-HT in modulating mitochondrial motility in hippocampal neurons. When we stimulated mitochondrial movement with 5-HT, then added a D2R agonist, movement was strongly reduced. However, treatment with a D1R agonist did not cause an increase in trafficking above that induced 8885697 by 5-HT. These observations point to a possible physiological role for both dopamine and 5-HT in regulating mitochondrial movement in hippocampal neurons. 
Previously, it has been suggested that dopamine and 5-HT signals can interact coordinately to regulate neuronal activity in the striatum; however, the coordinate regulation of mitochondrial motility by these two neurotransmitters in hippocampal neurons is a novel finding. Results Dopamine inhibits mitochondrial motility in hippocampal neurons As described in our earlier study of 5-HT and mitochondrial transport, we employed fully BMS-345541 biological activity differentiated and spontaneously active hippocampal neurons as a model culture system. Consistent with the finding that the dopamine receptor subtypes, D1 and D2, colocalize in neostriatal neurons, we found a similar pattern of expression in nearly all of the cultured hippocampal neurons that we imaged, including evidence of punctate immunoreactivity associated with axons. Cultures were infected with the Flx1.8/MitoEYFP lentivirus and used in live imaging experiments. Images were collected for 2 hours prior to the addition 19467704 of dopamine, and then for 2 hours after exposure to dopamine. Following the same criteria used previously, patterns of mitochondrial motility during long-term observation were categorized into three distinct groups: a stationary population, an oscillatory population, a
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