Extreme vetting of dopamine receptor oligomerization

Numerous reports have emerged over the past two decades suggesting that dopamine receptors form dimeric and/or higher-order oligomeric complexes. The existence of these complexes and their functional properties are of significant interest, as they may provide strategies for developing novel therapeutics that selectively target dopamine receptor complexes with the potential for more refined cellular therapeutics and reduced side-effects. However, there is still great debate and controversy surrounding the structural and functional aspects of dopamine receptor oligomers as well as their physiological relevance. Much of the uncertainty stems from the methodologies employed to understand these complexes, which have clear limitations and/or are not yet fully understood. Herein, we provide an overview of the literature focusing mainly on dopamine receptor homomeric complexes and selected dopamine receptor heteromeric complexes with the goal of providing a critical discussion of the methodology and the logic of the scientific inferences in this body of work.