Implementation of guidelines can improve clinical practice. The aim in this study was to investigate whether neurologists in Germany adhered to the national Parkinson's disease guideline. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 60 neurologists. Analyses were performed on 320 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease with either low grades of functional impairment (Hoehn and Yahr ...

Two families of G protein-coupled receptors of the neurotransmitter dopamine, i.e., dopamine 1-like family (D1-like receptor) and dopamine 2-like family (D2-like receptor), show dopaminergic activity in nerve cells. The D2-like receptor family, composed of D2, D3, and D4 receptors, downregulates the intracellular cAMP signaling pathway, and dopamine receptor agonists reduce the cAMP level in ne...

The interaction between glucocorticosteroids and the dopaminergic system has attracted considerable attention in recent years since this link could be involved in certain psychopathological conditions including depression. Radioligand binding studies have shown the presence of glucocorticoid receptors in neurons of the limbic system, a structure involved in mood control and subtle regulation of...

OBJECTIVE Therapeutic options for Parkinson's disease mainly consist of L-dopa and dopamine agonists. However, in Japan, the product labeling of the ergot dopamine agonists, cabergoline and pergolide, was revised in April 2007 due to the risk of developing cardiac valvulopathy. Here, we describe the prescribing trends of anti-Parkinson drugs from 2005 through 2010 in Japan, and examined whether...

In the midbrain, dopamine neurons can release dopamine somatodendritically. This results in an inhibitory postsynaptic current (IPSC) within adjacent dopamine cells that occurs by the activation of inhibitory D(2) autoreceptors. Kappa, but not mu/delta, opioid receptors inhibit this IPSC. The aim of the present study was to determine the mechanism by which kappa-opioid receptors inhibit the dop...

Pathologic gambling is an impulse control disorder previously reported to complicate dopamine agonist therapy in patients with Parkinson disease. It has not been described in association with dopamine agonist therapy of other conditions. We report three patients treated in our sleep disorders center who developed pathologic gambling while receiving treatment with dopamine agonists for restless ...

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...

Introduction: The protective and antisecretory effects of dopamine agonists on the stomach have been already reported, but the effect of bromocriptine (D2 dopamine agonist) on histamine stimulated gastric acid secretion (GAS) needs to be investigated. Methods: For gastric sampling, animals were anesthetized and a polyethylen tube was introduced into the stomach through esophagus. A cannula ...

Descending monoaminergic systems modulate spinal cord function, yet spinal dopaminergic actions are poorly understood. Using the in vitro lumbar cord, we studied the effects of dopamine and D2-like receptor ligands on spinal reflexes in wild-type (WT) and D3-receptor knock-out mice (D3KO). Low dopamine levels (1 microM) decreased the monosynaptic "stretch" reflex (MSR) amplitude in WT animals a...