This study was designed to validate an in vivo measurement of the functional sensitivity of basal ganglia neuronal circuits containing dopamine D2 receptors. We hypothesized that a D2 agonist would decrease striatopallidal neuronal activity, and hence regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) over the axon terminals in the globus pallidus. Quantitative pallidal blood flow was measured using positron ...

OBJECTIVES Hyperprolactinaemia (HPRL) is a classical side effect of antipsychotic drugs primarily attributed to blockade of dopamine D2 subtype receptors in the pituitary gland. Although dopamine is considered the primary factor inhibiting prolactin release, the activity of prolactin-producing lactotrophs is also regulated by the secretagogues thyrotrophin releasing hormone, vasoactive intestin...

The schizophrenia is a psychiatric disease, characterized by symptoms alterating the mind, behaviour and emotion. The terms antipsychotic and neuroleptic define a group of drugs mainly used to treat schizophrenia. The antipsychotics may be divided into two classes: classic or typical and atypical. The paliperidone, the major metabolite of risperidone, shares with the native drug the characteris...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization (WHO) report has predicted that major depression will become a key cause of illness-induced disability by the year 2020, second only to ischemic heart diseases. OBJECTIVES/METHODS Although a large number of antidepressant drugs (from monoamine oxidase inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants to dual reuptake inhibitors) are available for treatment of t...

Over the past 20-30 years, the premature ejaculation (PE) treatment paradigm, previously limited to behavioural psychotherapy, has expanded to include drug treatment. Pharmacotherapy for PE predominantly targets the multiple neurotransmitters and receptors involved in the control of ejaculation which include serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, norepinephrine, gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA) and nitr...

Introduction: Hyperprolactinemia is a common serious side effect of antipsychotic medications that are currently used in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Pharmacogenetic approaches offer the possibility of identifying patient-specific biomarkers for predicting the risk of this side effect. We investigated a possible relationship between variants (SNPs) in genes for cytochrome 2D6 (...

The regulation of dopamine and serotonin synthesis in rat brain striatal synaptosomes has been studied using HPLC methods. Noradrenaline was shown to markedly inhibit both the synthesis of dopamine and serotonin. The response of the synaptosomes to the concentrations of noradrenaline appeared to be biphasic, a very effective inhibition occurring at low concentrations (1-5 µm) and a relativ...

the regulation of dopamine and serotonin synthesis in rat brain striatal synaptosomes has been studied using hplc methods. noradrenaline was shown to markedly inhibit both the synthesis of dopamine and serotonin. the response of the synaptosomes to the concentrations of noradrenaline appeared to be biphasic, a very effective inhibition occurring at low concentrations (1-5 µm) and a relatively i...

Stuttering is a disturbance in the normal fluency and time patterning of speech. Developmental stuttering (DS), with or without associated psychiatric illness, is the most common form and includes all cases with gradual onset in childhood that are not the result of acquired brain damage. Persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) is DS that has not undergone spontaneous or speech-therapy-induced...