Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disorder, but the identification of specific genes has proven to be a difficult endeavor. Genes involved in the dopaminergic system are considered to be major candidates since the "dopamine hypothesis" of impairment in dopaminergic neurotransmission is one of the most widely accepted hypotheses of the etiology of schizophrenia. The overall findings from candi...

Pain is a multidimensional experience, which includes sensory, cognitive, and affective aspects. Converging lines of evidence indicate that dopaminergic neurotransmission plays an important role in human pain perception. However, the precise effects of dopamine on different aspects of pain perception remain to be elucidated. To address this question, we experimentally decreased dopaminergic neu...

1. Introduction Rapid, transient changes in extracellular dopamine concentrations following salient stimuli in freely moving rats have recently been detected using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (1,2). This type of neurotransmission had not been previously observed (for any neurotransmitter), but has been implicated by electrophysiological studies. Schultz et al. (3) reported synchronous burst fi...

OBJECTIVES This paper gives an overview of studies on the association between dopaminergic neurotransmission and the subjective experience of patients with schizophrenia. METHODS We undertook a review of the literature. RESULTS Dopaminergic neurotransmission may be relevant for subjective experience. Higher striatal D2 receptor occupancy by typical and atypical antipsychotics is related to ...

The development of electrochemical recordings with small carbon-fiber electrodes has significantly advanced the understanding of the regulation of catecholamine transmission in various brain areas. Recordings in vivo or in slice preparations monitor diffusion of catecholamine following stimulated synaptic release into the surrounding tissue. This synaptic ‘overflow’ is defined by the amount of ...

parkinsonism is used to describe a syndrome manifested by any combination of six cardinal features: tremor at rest, rigidity, bradykinesia, loss of postural reflexes, flexed posture and the freezing. decreased dopaminergic neurotransmission in the basal ganglia is the core biochemical pathology in parkinsonism. hereditary parkinsonism includes various heredodegenerative diseases such as hallerv...

Dopaminergic neurotransmission in primary auditory cortex (AI) has been shown to be involved in learning and memory functions. Moreover, dopaminergic projections and D1/D5 receptor distributions display a layer-dependent organization, suggesting specific functions in the cortical circuitry. However, the circuit effects of dopaminergic neurotransmission in sensory cortex and their possible roles...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has revolutionized investigations of brain functions. Increases in fMRI signals are usually correlated with neuronal activation, but diverse explanations have been proposed for negative fMRI responses, including decreases in neuronal activity, the vascular-steal effect, and large increases in oxygen consumption. These possible scenarios, although enc...