Parkinson's disease: Mechanisms and models

Schultz, Wolfram. Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 1–27, 1998. The effects of lesions, receptor blocking, electrical self-stimulation, and drugs of abuse suggest t...

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Predictive Reward Signal of Dopamine Neurons

Missale, Cristina, S. Russel Nash, Susan W. Robinson, Mohamed Jaber, and Marc G. Caron. Dopamine Receptors: From Structure to Function. Physiol. Rev. 78: 189–225, 1998. — The diverse physiological actions of dopamine are mediated by at least five distinct G protein-coupled receptor subtypes. Two D1-like receptor subtypes (D1 and D5) couple to the G protein Gs and activate adenylyl cyclase. The other receptor subtypes belong to the D2-like subfamily (D2 , D3 , and D4) and are prototypic of G protein-coupled receptors that inhibit adenylyl cyclase and activate K+ channels. The genes for the D1 and D5 receptors are intronless, but pseudogenes of the D5 exist. The D2 and D3 receptors vary in certain tissues and species as a result of alternative splicing, and the human D4 receptor gene exhibits extensive polymorphic variation. In the central nervous system, dopamine receptors are widely expressed because they are involved in the control of locomotion, cognition, emotion, and affect as well as neuroendocrine s...

Dopamine Receptors: From Structure to Function

http://www.back-in-business-physiotherapy.com/images/files/DescendingControl.pdf

Descending control of pain.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/gsas/g9600/2003/JavitchReadings/Schultz(Sulzer).pdf

Getting Formal with Dopamine and Reward

Cocaine and amphetamine elicit differential effects in rats with a unilateral injection of dopamine transporter antisense oligodeoxynucleotides

Reserpine treatment stimulates enkephalin and D2 dopamine receptor gene expression in the rat striatum.

Prenatal D1, D1b and D3 dopamine receptor gene expression in the rat forebrain: detection by reverse polymerase chain reaction.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are complex conditions that stem from a combination of genetic, epigenetic and environmental influences during early pre- and postnatal childhood. The review focuses on the cerebellum and the striatum, two structures involved in motor, sensory, cognitive and social functions altered in ASD. We summarize clinical and fundamental studies highlighting the importance of these two structures in ASD. We further discuss the relation between cellular and molecular alterations with the observed behavior at the social, cognitive, motor and gait levels. Functional correlates regarding neuronal activity are also detailed wherever possible, and sexual dimorphism is explored pointing to the need to apprehend ASD in both sexes, as findings can be dramatically different at both quantitative and qualitative levels. The review focuses also on a set of three recent papers from our laboratory where we explored motor and gait function in various genetic and environmental ASD animal models. We report that motor and gait behaviors can constitute an early and quantitative window to the disease, as they often correlate with the severity of social impairments and loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells. The review ends with suggestions as to the main obstacles that need to be surpassed before an appropriate management of the disease can be proposed.

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Cerebellar and Striatal Implications in Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Clinical Observations to Animal Models

Publisher Summary DA is involved in the control of movement, cognition, and affect, as well as neuroendocrine secretion. In the periphery, DA regulates pituitary and parathyroid hormone synthesis and secretion. The role of the DAT in the CNS has been largely inferred from the clinical and psychosocial effects of drugs such as antidepressants and psychostimulants. These drugs interfere with the function of DAT. However, the involvement of DAT in the peripheral as well as the hypothalamic-neuroendocrine actions of DA has remained more enigmatic. The findings suggest that, in the absence of DA uptake, (-/-) DAT animals are hyperdopaminergic. In an attempt to examine whether this hyperdopaminergic behavioral phenotype was reflected at the biochemical level, several parameters were examined. Messenger RNAs for genes that are normally under dopaminergic control, such as prepro-enkephalin and dynorphin, showed variations indicative of increased dopaminergic tone. Similarly mRNAs for pre- and postsynaptic D2 dopamine receptors, as well as striatal D1 receptors, were markedly (>50%) diminished. In the absence of a functional DAT, the (-/-) DAT mice have undergone major adaptive changes in their biochemical and neurochemical mediators of dopaminergic transmission in an attempt to dampen the presumed increased DA signal.

Inactivation of the dopamine transporter reveals essential roles of dopamine in the control of locomotion, psychostimulant response, and pituitary function.

Mohamed Jaber

Papers

Cocaine and amphetamine elicit differential effects in rats with a unilateral injection of dopamine transporter antisense oligodeoxynucleotides

Reserpine treatment stimulates enkephalin and D2 dopamine receptor gene expression in the rat striatum.

Prenatal D1, D1b and D3 dopamine receptor gene expression in the rat forebrain: detection by reverse polymerase chain reaction.

Cerebellar and Striatal Implications in Autism Spectrum Disorders: From Clinical Observations to Animal Models

Inactivation of the dopamine transporter reveals essential roles of dopamine in the control of locomotion, psychostimulant response, and pituitary function.