Effects of different dopamine agonists and antagonists on post-menopausal hot flushes

Abstract

The dopaminergic system seems to be involved in both pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion and hot flushes in post-menopausal women. With the aim of further clarifying its role, the effectiveness of dopaminergic and antidopaminergic drugs in the treatment of hot flushes was studied. Self-assessed scores for vasomotor symptoms were evaluated in 5 groups of 15 patients treated for 20 days with one of the following agents: placebo; the dopamine receptor agonist, bromocriptine; the indirect dopaminergic agent, Liposom; the antidopaminergic drug, veralipride or the peripheral antidopaminergic agent, domperidone. All of these treatment regimens were effective in alleviating hot flushes, but the pharmacological agents proved to be more effective than the placebo. A direct dopaminergic action is hypothesized in the case of bromocriptine and Liposom, while the antidopaminergic drugs might act through different indirect mechanisms such as the short-loop feedback exerted by hyperprolactinaemia on tuberoinfundibular dopamine (TIDA) neurons with a secondary dopamine-like activity, or stimulation of the opioid system.