We found that treatment of both differentiated dopaminergic-like SH-SY5Y cells and rat midbrain slices with the << dopamine D2 receptor >> (D2R) agonist, [[ quinpirole ]], triggered an increase in the expression of GDNF that was temporally preceded by an increase in the levels of zinc-finger protein 268 (Zif268), a DNA-binding transcription factor encoded by an immediate-early gene.