Dopaminergic neurotransmission in the ventral and dorsal striatum interact with central processing of rewarding and reward-indicating stimuli, and may affect frontocortical-striatal-thalamic circuits regulating goal-directed behaviour. Thirteen healthy male volunteers were investigated with multimodal imaging, using the radioligand 6-[(18)F]fluoro-l-DOPA (FDOPA) for positron emission tomography...

The parasite Toxoplasma gondii has been found to manipulate the behavior of its secondary hosts to increase its own dissemination which is commonly believed to be to the detriment of the host (manipulation hypothesis). The manipulation correlates with an up-regulation of dopaminergic neurotransmission. In humans, different pathologies have been associated with T. gondii infections but most late...

It is recognized that sustained ischemia-induced hyperactivity is related to abnormalities in dopamine function. However, it is unclear that dopaminergic neurotransmission triggers such ischemia-induced hyperactivity. Therefore, the relationship between dopaminergic neurotransmission and ischemia-induced hyperactivity was investigated in an animal model using Mongolian gerbils. When haloperidol...

Using non-fluorescent immunocytochemical double-labelling procedure and specific antibodies visualizing GR (glucocorticoid receptors) and TH (tyrosine hydroxylase) we have been looking for the co-localization of both antigens in neurons of the rat ventral tegmental area and adjacent substantia nigra. This experimental direction has been inspired by the available data showing that alterations in...

Background and Purpose Adolescent cannabis use is associated with adult psychopathology. When ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), mainly in high doses, administered to adolescence rats there are also long lasting effects adults. This study aims determine the specific bio-behavioural profile after adolescent low-dose THC, which better mirrors recreational use. Experimental Approach male Sprague–Dawle...

dopamine (da) is one of the main catecholamines in the brain and is crucial for movement coordination, endocrine function, reward, mood, memory and emotions. the dopaminergic system is the primary therapeutic target in the treatment of parkinson’s disease (pd), drug addiction and schizophrenia. notwithstanding, dysfunction of central dopaminergic neurotransmission has also been associated to de...

Dopamine (DA) is one of the main catecholamines in the brain and is crucial for movement coordination, endocrine function, reward, mood, memory and emotions. The dopaminergic system is the primary therapeutic target in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD), drug addiction and schizophrenia. Notwithstanding, dysfunction of central dopaminergic neurotransmission has also been associated to de...

Specific antagonists of central dopaminergic receptors constitute the major class of antipsychotic drugs (APD). Two principal effects of APD are used as criteria for the pre-clinical screening of their antipsychotic action: (i) inhibition of basal and depolarization-induced activity of mesolimbic dopaminergic neurons; (ii) antagonism of the locomotor effects of dopaminergic agonists. Given that...

objective: interaction between genetic and environmental factors is considered as major factors in schizophrenia (scz). it has been shown that dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurotransmission dysfunction play an essential role in the scz pathogenesis. this study aimed to find the impact of functional 19-bp insertion/deletion (ins/del) polymorphism in dopamine beta-hydroxylase (dbh) gene on scz ...

Positron emission tomography (PET) studies on presynaptic dopaminergic function can reveal hypofunction in early Parkinson's disease (PD) which may help in the early diagnosis especially in patients with mild symptoms. This hypofunction can be detected with fluorodopa (reflecting mainly aromatic amino acid decarboxylase activity of nigrostriatal terminals) or dopamine transporter ligands. These...