Caudate nucleus

Youngren KD, Inglis FM, Pivirotto PJ et al (1999) Clozapine preferentially increases dopamine release in the rhesus monkey prefrontal cortex compared with the caudate nucleus. Neuropsychopharmacology 20 403-12... 

Basal ganglia are a group of subcortical nuclei which are essential for the coordination of movements (so-called extrapyramidal system). They include the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and lenti-form nucleus. Damage of the basal ganglia results in involuntary movements, as are observed in Parkinson s disease and Huntington s chorea. 

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is considered the second most common cause of dementia after AD. The disorder is characterized by progressive fluctuating cognitive impairment, visual hallucinations and motor features of Parkinsonism. Neocoitical cholinergic activity is more severely depleted in DLB than in AD, and DLB also affects the caudate nucleus, the thalamus and the brain stem. Tolerability of ChEI in DLB appears similar to AD, with some gastrointestinal effects and muscle cramps. 

Fuxe K, Andersson K, Nilsen OG, et al Toluene and telencephalic dopamine selective reduction of amine mrnover in discrete DA nerve terminal systems of the anterior caudate nucleus by low concentrations of toluene. Toxicol Lett 12 115—123,1982 Cause EM, Mendez V, Geller I Exploratory smdies of a rodent model for inhalant abuse. Neurobehav Toxicol Teratol 7 143—148, 1985 Gentry JR, Hill C, Malcolm R New anticonvulsants a review of applications for the management of substance abuse disorders. Ann Clin Psychiatry 14 233—245, 2002 Gerasimov MR, Ferrieri RA, Schiffer WK, et al Smdy of brain uptake and biodistribution of [llCjtoluene in non-human primates and mice. Life Sci 70 2811 — 2828, 2002... 

Of course, while the identification of these distinct systems may be useful there are many neural pathways that would not fit easily into one of them. Thus some inhibitory pathways, such as that from the caudate nucleus to substantia nigra, utilising GABA, are not intrinsic neurons. The dopamine pathway from the substantia nigra to striatum may start from a small nucleus but unlike other monoamine pathways it shows little ramification beyond its influence on the striatum. The object of the above classification is not to fit all neural pathways and mechanisms into a restricted number of functional categories but again to demonstrate that there are different forms of neurotransmission. 

Figure 7.1 Dopamine neuronal pathways. AMYG, amygdala CN, caudate nucleus MFB, medial forebrain bundle NcA, nucleus accumbers OT, olfactory tubercle PUT, putamen SN, substantia nigra. For full details see text and Moore and Bloom (1978) and Lindvall and Bjorkland (1978)...

Certainly the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase is greater in the DA neurons of the substantia nigra (17.5 nmol dopa synthesised/mg protein/h) than in the NA neurons of the locus coeruleus (4-5), as is the turnover of the amine itself (1.7 pg/h) compared with that of NA (1.0) (see Bacopoulus and Bhatnager 1977). In the caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens the turnover of DA is even higher at 7.4 and 2-6 pg/g/h respectively. 

In order to understand how the symptoms of PD could arise from a loss of striatal DA and what can be done to replace it and treat PD, it is necessary to know something of basal ganglia circuitry and the role of DA in it. The scheme to be outlined should, however, be regarded as a working template rather than fully proven fact but there is much evidence for it (Fig. 15.2). Certainly the striatum, i.e. the putamen and caudate nucleus, is accepted as the main receiving area in motor circuits. Information coming to... 

Seiden, L.S., and Vosmer. G. Formation of 6-hydroxydopamine in caudate nucleus of the rat brain after a single large dose of methylamphetamine. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 21 29-31, 1984. 

Kemp, J.M., and Powell, T.P.S. The structure of the caudate nucleus of the car Light and electron microscopy. Philos Trans R Soc Bond [Biol] 262 383-401, 1971. 

TABLE 7. Selective reduction in serotonin in the caudate nucleus of monkeys administered MDMA 2 weeks previously... 

Ellison, G. Eison, M.S. Huberman, H.S. and Daniel, F. Long-term changes in dopaminergic innervation of caudate nucleus after continuous amphetamine administration. Science 201 276-278, 1978. 

FIGURE 29-1. Anatomy of the extrapyramidal system. The extrapyramidal motor system controls muscle movement through a system of pathways and nerve tracts that connect the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, reticular formation, and spinal neurons. Patients with Parkinson s disease have a loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra in the brain stem that leads to depletion of dopamine in the corpus striatum. The corpus striatum is made up of the caudate nucleus and the lentiform nuclei that are made up of the putamen and the globus pallidus. 

Lada, M.W., Kennedy, R.T. (1996). Quantitative, in vivo monitoring of primary amines in rat caudate nucleus using microdialysis coupled by a flow-gated interface to capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Anal. Chem. 68, 2790-2797. 

Krueger, B.K., Kinetics and block of dopamine uptake in synaptosomes from rat caudate nucleus, J. Neurochem., 55, 260, 1990. 

Gerhardt, G.A., Pang, K., and Rose, G.M., In vivo electrochemical demonstration of presynaptic actions of phencyclidine in rat caudate nucleus, J. Pharmacol. Exp. Then, 241, 714, 1987. 

Aloyo V., Pazalski P., Kirifides A., Harvey J. Behavioral sensitization, behavioral tolerance, and increased 3II WIN 35,428 binding in rabbit caudate nucleus after repeated injections of cocaine. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 52 335, 1995. 

Corpus striatum A forebrain basal ganglion comprising the caudate nucleus and... 

Dopamine is formed from tyrosine by hyclroxylation with tyrosine hydroxylase and the removal of a CO2 group by aromatic amino acid decarboxylase. The catecholamine is found in high concentrations in parts of the brain—the caudate nucleus, the median eminence, the tuberculum olfactorium, and the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine appears to act as an inhibitory neurotransmitter. 

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