Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that affects up to 1% of the population worldwide. Traditional models of schizophrenia have emphasized dopaminergic dysfunction. Over the last 20 years, however, limitations of the dopamine model have become increasingly apparent, necessitating development of alternative models. Glutamatergic models are based upon the observation that the psychotomimet...

Excitatory amino acid (EAA) receptor-mediated events have recently been implicated in dopaminergic mechanisms of neurotoxicity. 2,4,5-Trihydroxyphenylalanine (6-hydroxy-DOPA, TOPA), the ortho-hydroxylated derivative of the dopamine precursor 2,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), has recently been reported to have neurotoxic properties which are blocked by CNQX, a specific antagonist of the AMPA ...

Activation of spinal trigeminal afferents innervating the cranial vasculature is likely to play a role in migraine, although some parts of the clinical presentation may have a dopaminergic basis. The A11 nucleus, located in the posterior hypothalamus, provides the only known source of descending dopaminergic innervation for the spinal gray matter. Extracellular recordings were made in the trige...

PURPOSE Previously, retinopetal axons containing histamine and dopaminergic neurons expressing histamine H(1)-receptor had been localized in mouse retinas using anatomic techniques. The goal of these experiments was to demonstrate that these receptors are functional. METHODS Dopaminergic cells were acutely isolated from retinas of transgenic mice expressing red fluorescent protein under contr...

Chronic use of cocaine is associated with a reduced density of dopaminergic D2 receptors in the striatum, with negative consequences for cognitive control processes. Increasing evidence suggests that cognitive control is also affected in recreational cocaine consumers. This study aimed at linking these observations to dopaminergic malfunction by studying the spontaneous eyeblink rate (EBR), a m...

In the present study, we designed an ultrasensitive sensing platform for evaluation of physiologically relevant values basal dopamine (DA) in a culture medium as complex biological environment. The proposed was fabricated via integration molecular imprinting technology with carbon hybrid nanomaterials. Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were grown by using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD...

Dopamine-containing neurones of the ventral tegmental area express neurotensin receptors which are involved in regulating cell firing and dopamine release. Although indirect evidence suggests that some neurotensin receptors may be localised on the nerve terminals of dopaminergic neurones in the striatum and thus locally regulate dopamine release, a clear demonstration of such a mechanism is lac...