Dopamine Partial Agonists: An Overview
Several atypical antipsychotic drugs are partial agonists of dopamine. They provide weak stimulation of dopamine receptors in the brain and prevent dopamine from overstimulating the receptors by binding to them in its place.
In contrast, most antipsychotic and antimanic drugs are dopamine antagonists, which also bind to dopamine receptors but prevent any stimulation from occurring there.
A. Aripiprazole (Abilify) was the first partial dopamine agonist approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of schizophrenia, and mania, and as an add-on treatment to antidepressants for the treatment of unipolar depression, but not bipolar depression.
B. Brexpiprazole (Rexulti) received FDA approval for the treatment of schizophrenia and as an add-on treatment to antidepressants for the treatment of unipolar depression in 2015. It is similar to aripiprazole but has weaker activity at the dopamine D2 receptor. Brexpiprazole is associated with small increases in the hormone prolactin, as opposed to the small decreases in prolactin seen with aripiprazole.
C. Cariprazine (Vraylar) is FDA-approved for schizophrenia and mania, and it also has positive placebo-controlled data in bipolar depression and as an adjunct to antidepressants in unipolar depression. It differs from the others in that it is more potent at dopamine D3 receptors than at D2 receptors. It is thought that effects on D3 receptors may provide better antidepressant effects, but this proposition has not yet been tested.
