Dopaminergic circuits modulate a wide variety of innate and learned behaviors in animals, including olfactory associative learning, arousal, and temperature-preference behavior. It is not known whether distinct or overlapping sets of dopaminergic neurons modulate these behaviors. Here, I have functionally characterized the dopaminergic circuits innervating the Drosophila mushroom body with in v...

The clinical trials with intrastriatal transplantation of human fetal mesencephalic tissue, rich in dopaminergic neurons, in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients show that cell replacement can work and in some cases induce major, long-lasting improvement. However, owing to poor tissue availability, this approach can only be applied in very few patients, and standardization is difficult, leading to...

• Loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) is responsible for motor symptoms Parkinson's disease. R-type calcium channels have been linked to selective vulnerability nigral an animal model Immunohistochemistry was used examine CAV2.3 expression human brains. In disease patients higher than those neighbouring ventral tegmental area and control might be therapeuti...

Electrophysiological techniques were used to study the effects of amisulpride, a D2/D3 dopamine receptor blocker, on the activity of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Administration of single bolus doses of amisulpride (8-32 mg/kg i.v.) induced a dose-dependent increase in the basal activity of dopaminergic neurons, in both th...

introduction: parkinsonrquote s disease (pd) is a human neurodegenerative disorder which is associated with a massive and progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in subistantia nigra (sn). there is a strong evidence of an oxidative stress participates in the etiology of pd. materials and methods: the rats were divided into sham-operated, experimental and vitamin e-treated groups. for a...

Monoamines, including dopamine (DA), have been linked to aggression in various species. However, the precise role or roles served by the amine in aggression have been difficult to define because dopaminergic systems influence many behaviors, and all can be altered by changing the function of dopaminergic neurons. In the fruit fly, with the powerful genetic tools available, small subsets of brai...

Abstract Introduction Mesodiencephalic dopamine neurons play crucial roles in the control of a variety of brain functions, including voluntary movement and behavioural processes such as mood, reward, and attention. Degeneration of mesodiencephalic dopaminergic neurons also represents one of the principal pathological features of Parkinson’s disease. Recent progress led to the identification of ...

A massive degeneration of dopamine-containing neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) in the midbrain is characteristic of Parkinson's disease. Inflammation in the brain has long been speculated to play a role in the pathogenesis of this neurological disorder. Recently, we reported that treatment of primary rat mesencephalic mixed neuron-glia cultures with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) led to the activ...

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects >1 million Americans and is marked by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. PD has been linked to two causative factors: genetic risks (hereditary PD) and environmental toxins (idiopathic PD). In recent years, considerable effort has been devoted to the development of a Drosophila model of human PD that might be useful for examining the cellu...

Calbindin (CB) is a calcium binding protein reported to protect dopaminergic neurons from degeneration. Although a direct link between CB content and differential vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons has long been accepted, factors other than CB have also been suggested, particularly those related to the dopamine transporter. Indeed, several studies have reported that CB levels are not causall...