Dopaminergic nigrostriatal system

Blanchard V, Chritin M, Vyas S, Savasta M, Feuerstein C, Agid Y, Javoy-Agid F, Raisman-Vozari R (1995) Long-term induction of tyrosine hydroxylase expression compensatory response to partial degeneration of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system in the rat brain. J Neurochem (54 1669-1679. 

Hefti F, Melamed E, Wurtman RJ (1980) Partial lesions of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system in rat brain biochemical characterization. Brain Res 795 123-137. 

Felten, D.L., Felten, S.Y., Steece-Collier, K., Date, I. and Clemens, J.A. (1992) Age-related decline in the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system the oxidative hypothesis and protective strategies. Ann. Neurol. 32 (Suppl.) 133-136. 

Nervous system In a 58-year-old man with a history of Parkinson s disease, fentanyl as an anesthetic and for postoperative analgesia was associated with severe bradykinesia and rigidity [67 ]. The mechanism was unclear but probably resulted from an effect on the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system. 

The nigrostriatal tract is one of the four main dopaminergic pathways in the central nervous system. About 75% of the dopamine in the brain occurs in the nigrostriatal pathway with its cell bodies in the substantia nigra, whose axons project in the corpus striatum. Degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons in the nigrostriatal system results in Parkinsons disease. 

Johnson, M. Stone, D.M. Hanson, G.R. and Gibb, J.W. Role of dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway in methamphetamine-induced depression of the neostriatal serotonergic system. Eur J Pharmacol 135 231-234, 1987. 

Dopaminergic neuromodulatory system. The neurons that synthesize dopamine (structural formula in box) are found in the midbrain, from which they project to the limbic system (the mesolimbic pathway), the cerebral cortex (the mesocortical pathway), as well as to the extrapyramidal motor system (the nigrostriatal pathway). 

Dopaminergic projections are classically divided in nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, and mesocortical systems. The nigrostriatal system projects from the substantia nigra (SN) to the dorsal striatum, and has been... 

Hirsch EC (2000) Nigrostriatal system plasticity in Parkinson s disease Effect of dopaminergic denervation and treatment. Ann Neurol 47 S115-S121. 

Since the diagnosis of Parkinson s disease is the unequivocal proof that the age-related irreversible deterioration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuronal system has already surpassed a critical level in the patient, and the disease is incurable, prevention remains the only chance for the future to fight off Parkinson s disease. The daily administration of a small dose of a synthetic mesencephalic enhancer substance from sexual maturity until death presents itself as a proper method for reaching this aim. 

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