This study aimed to investigate the effect of the activation of dopamine (DA) receptors on ATP-activated currents (IATP) in freshly isolated dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons of rats using whole-cell patch clamp technique in combination with intracellular dialysis. Extracellular application of DA inhibited IATP in half of the neurons tested (39/77, 50.6%), enhanced IATP in a small subset of the neurons (22/77, 28.6%), and had no effect on IATP in the rest (16/77, 20.8%). To investigate the DA receptor subtypes that mediate these modulations, the effects of R(-)-NPA, a D2 receptor agonist, and SKF-38393, a D1 receptor agonist, were examined. Preapplication of R(-)-NPA inhibited IATP in most of the cells tested (53/57, 93.0%) and had no effect in the rest (4/57, 7.0%); no potentiating effect was observed. Preapplication of SKF-38393 inhibited IATP in a majority of the cells tested (57/77, 74.0%), potentiated IATP in some cells (12/77, 15.6%), and had no effect in the remainder (8/77, 10.4%). Further study of the inhibitory effect of R(-)-NPA and SKF-38393 revealed that both of them acted in a noncompetitive manner, shifting the concentration-response curve for IATP downwards with the maximal response markedly reduced and EC50 basically unchanged; and the inhibition was independent of the holding potential. Intracellular dialysis of GDP-beta-S and H-7 abolished R(-)-NPA inhibition of IATP completely, and SKF-38393 inhibition of IATP was removed by intracellular application of H-7 but not by H-9. These results suggest that the activation of DA receptors dominantly inhibits IATP in dorsal root ganglion cells, and this inhibition may be involved in the modulation of afferent information by the diencephalon-derived DA in the primary sensory neurons.