For the past 30 years levodopa (LD) has been the pharmacological standard of care for treating idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. LD is a pharmacologically inactive precursor, which is converted enzymatically to the neurotransmitter dopamine by a declining population of neurons in the substantia nigra, the most important site of the p...

  It has been revealed that dopamine (DA) modulates gastro-duodenal responses to stress. Several investigations have been made to identify the mechanisms and/or receptors by which DA or its promoters exert their gastroprotective function against stress, however there are many discrepancies in this respect. In order to clarify the relative contribution and/or interaction of two DA receptor subty...

Cocaine addicts are reported to have decreased numbers of striatal dopamine D2 receptors. However, in rodents, repeated cocaine administration consistently produces hypersensitivity to the psychomotor activating effects of both indirect dopamine agonists, such as cocaine itself, and importantly, to direct-acting D2 receptor agonists. The current study reports a possible resolution to this long-...

AIM Catecholamines regulate functions of the nervous, neuroendocrine and immune systems. Dopamine may modulate the activity of keratinocytes, which play a role in secreting cytokines and chemokines. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dopaminergic agonists on the production of IL-6 and IL-8 by a non-tumoral human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT). METHODS Cells were stimulated wi...

The functions of the basal ganglia are critically dependent on dopamine. In mammals, dopamine differentially modulates the excitability of the direct and indirect striatal projection neurons, and these populations selectively express dopamine D1 and D2 receptors, respectively. Although the detailed organization of the basal ganglia is conserved throughout the vertebrate phylum, it was unknown w...

Eight patients with chronic glomerulonephritis and five age-matched normal volunteers were given additional sodium chloride by mouth under conditions of metabolic balance. Whereas in the normal volunteers plasma renin activity was suppressed and urinary excretion of free dopamine increased, in the patients dopamine was not mobilised and plasma renin activity was not completely suppressed. Abnor...