In most species, interval timing is time-scale invariant: errors in time estimation scale up linearly with the estimated duration. In mammals, time-scale invariance is ubiquitous over behavioral, lesion, and pharmacological manipulations. For example, dopaminergic drugs induce an immediate, whereas cholinergic drugs induce a gradual, scalar change in timing. Behavioral theories posit that time-...

BACKGROUND There is ample evidence that a subgroup of Parkinson's disease patients who are treated with dopaminergic drugs develop certain behavioral addictions such as pathological gambling. The fact that only a subgroup of these patients develops pathological gambling suggests an interaction between dopaminergic drug treatment and individual susceptibility factors. These are potentially of ge...

BACKGROUND The most frequent behavioral manifestations in Parkinson's disease (PD) are attributed to the dopaminergic dysregulation syndrome (DDS), which is considered to be secondary to the iatrogenic effects of the drugs that replace dopamine. Over the past few years some cases of patients improving their creative abilities after starting treatment with dopaminergic pharmaceuticals have been ...

INTRODUCTION Reasoning biases such as jumping to conclusions (JTC) and overconfidence in errors have been well replicated in patients with delusions. However, their relation to dopaminergic activity, central to pathophysiologic models of psychosis, has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to examine the effects of a dopaminergic agonist (L-dopa) and a dopaminergic antagonist (haloperidol...

BACKGROUND Investigators use instrumental tasks for objective assessment of parkinsonian motor disability and its drug response. To date, such studies on treated parkinsonian patients have not addressed acute and long-term effects of dopaminergic drugs. OBJECTIVES To determine the impact of long-term dopaminergic therapy within a standardized levodopa challenge test design in combination with...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease displaying negative impacts on both the health and social ability of patients and considerable economical costs. The classical anti-parkinsonian drugs based in dopaminergic replacement are the standard treatment, but several motor side effects emerge during long-term use. This mini-review presents the rationale to s...

In 2003, the EFNS Task Force was set up for putting forth guidelines for the management of the Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and the Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD). After determining the objectives for management and the search strategy for primary and secondary RLS and for PLMD, a review of the scientific literature up to 2004 was performed for the drug classes and interventions employe...

Patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease respond to symptomatic treatment for only a limited period of time. Standard dopaminergic pharmacotherapy is often associated with multiple adverse effects that require discontinuation of treatment. Undoubtely, the approach to the therapy of Parkinson’s disease has changed significantly during the past few decades. These changes include the introduct...

Problem statement: Our previous research has shown that mitochondrial ATPase may have a role in the action of dopaminergic D2 receptors. It is therefore, thought of interest to investigate the effect of bromocriptine, sulpiride or their combination on the mitochondrial and microsomal ouabain sensitive and ouabain insensitive Na/K-ATPase in the liver of rats. Approach: In vivo treatment was carr...

Thyrotropine secretion in human beings is under the influence of various factors. The effect of the hormones, triiodothyronine, thyroxine, somatostatin and thyroid-stimulating hormone has been well known. In this study the direct effect of stimulation of the dopaminergic system by bromocriptine on the thyrotropine secretion was investigated. In this study twenty women with hyperprolactinemia r...