Parkinson's disease is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic pathways projecting to the striatum. These pathways are implicated in reward prediction. In this study, we investigated reward and punishment processing in young, never-medicated Parkinson's disease patients, recently medicated patients receiving the dopamine receptor agonists pramipexole and ropinirole and healthy control...

Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP) is produced by honey bee queens and used to regulate the behavior and physiology of their nestmates. QMP has recently been shown to block aversive learning in young worker bees, an effect that can be mimicked by treating bees with one of QMP's key components, homovanillyl alcohol (HVA). Although the mechanisms underlying this blockade remain unclear, HVA has bee...

Suggestions to Contributors Tribute to Dr. Paul Lewis Munson 3 Agonist-induced Desensitization of the 3-Adrenergic Receptor-linked Adenylate Cyclase. T. KENDALL HARDEN 5 Behavioral and Pharmacological Aspects of Opioid Dependence: Mixed Agonist-Antagonists. WILLIAM L. WOOLVERTON AND CHARLES R. SCHUSTER 33 Pharmacology of Mesocortical Dopamine Neurons. MICHAEL J. BANNON AND ROBERT H. ROTH 53 Opi...

The glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb (OB) contains synaptic connections between olfactory sensory neurons and OB neurons as well as connections among OB neurons. A subpopulation of external tufted cells and periglomerular cells (juxtaglomerular neurons) expresses dopamine, and recent reports suggest that dopamine can inhibit olfactory sensory neuron activation of OB neurons. In this study...

Introduction: Stimulation or inactivation of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) produces antinociception. Studies showed a role for the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the antinociception induced by LH chemical stimulation through the orexinergic receptors. In this study, we assessed the role of intra-VTA dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in antinociceptive effects of cholinergic agonist, carbachol, m...

BP 897 is a potent (K(i) = 0.92 nM) dopamine D(3) receptor compound developed for the treatment of cocaine abuse and craving. BP 897 has a high selectivity for the dopamine D(3) versus D(2) receptors (70-fold) and a moderate affinity for 5-HT(1A) receptors, (K(i) = 84 nM), adrenergic-alpha(1) (K(i) = 60 nM) and -alpha(2) adrenoceptors (K(i) = 83 nM). BP 897 displays significant intrinsic activi...

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions, such as working memory, attention selection, and memory retrieval, depend critically on dopamine and NMDA receptor activation by way of an inverted-U-shaped pharmacological profile. Although single neuron responses in the PFC have shown some aspects of this profile, a network dynamic that follows the dopamine-NMDA dependence has not been identified. We studied...

Sir, I read with interest the manuscript by Dr Thobois and colleagues (Thobois et al., 2010), in which the authors report the occurrence of depression and apathy after deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson’s disease and correlate these symptoms with mesolimbic dopaminergic denervation on neuroimaging studies. I agree with the authors’ interpretation of post-surgical apathy as a drug with...