Previous studies have demonstrated that the effects of methamphetamine (METH) on dopaminergic and serotonergic systems are likely related to METH-induced increases in dopamine release. The ability of haloperidol to prevent these effects of METH suggests that dopamine receptor activation is involved in mediating these METH actions. The present studies were undertaken to determine what role the d...

Temporal control, or how organisms guide movements in time to achieve behavioral goals, depends on dopamine signaling. The medial prefrontal cortex controls many goal-directed behaviors and receives dopaminergic input primarily from the midbrain ventral tegmental area. However, this system has never been linked with temporal control. Here, we test the hypothesis that dopaminergic projections fr...

there is interrelationship between the immune and nervous systems that is accomplished by the molecular mediators. dopamine is one of the most important neurotransmitters. five different dopamine receptor genes (drd1, drd2, drd3, drd4, and drd5) have been recognized and cloned. the expression of the dopamine receptors is well characterized in the brain but little work has been done to examine t...

Evidence suggests that nicotine and alcohol can each serve as a gateway drug. We determined whether prior treatment would alter amphetamine reward. Also, we examined age dopaminergic neurotransmission are important in this regard. Male female adolescent adult C57BL/6J mice were tested for baseline place preference. Mice then received six conditioning with saline/nicotine (0.25 mg/kg) twice dail...

the effect of hypericin on the expression of morphine-induced conditioned place preference (cpp) was investigated and compared with the effect of the synthetic antidepressants. the cpp paradigms took place over six days using an unbiased procedure. the results demonstrate that intra-peritoneal (ip) injection of morphine sulfate (2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg) significantly induce the cpp in rat. intra-pe...

Stem cell therapy for Parkinson's disease requires effective production of dopaminergic neurons. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Sacchetti et al. (2009) report an unexpected role of liver X receptors and their ligand, oxysterols, in regulating dopaminergic neurogenesis.

Accumbal dopamine plays an important role in physiological responses and diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, and depression. Since the nucleus accumbens contains different neurotransmitters, it is important to know how they interact with dopaminergic function: this is because modifying accumbal dopamine has far-reaching consequences for the treatment of diseases in which accumb...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by alterations of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurotransmission. Compared to the wealth of data on the impairment of the dopamine system, relatively limited evidence is available concerning the role of major non-dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems in PD. Therefore, we comprehensively investigated the d...

According to the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, symptoms of psychosis arise, in part, from dysregulation of central dopaminergic pathways. The activity of dopaminergic neurons is in turn modulated by several neurotransmitters, including, most prominently, serotonin and glutamate. The first generation of antipsychotic drugs (ie, typical antipsychotics) are characterized by potent D2 dopam...

The presynaptic control of dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) by glutamate and acetylcholine has a profound impact on reward signaling. Here we provide immunocytochemical and neurochemical evidence supporting the co-localization and functional interaction between nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors in dopaminergic terminals of th...