1,721,224 research outputs found

    SEQUENCE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF DOPAMINE METABOLISM IN THE RAT-BRAIN

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    Can antipsychotic drugs be classified by their effects on a particular group of dopamine neurons in the brain?

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    During the four decades that research has been carried out on antipsychotic drugs, a variety of methods have been used to study the effects of these compounds on dopamine neurotransmission. An important issue in this research was to find an explanation for the difference between "typical" and "atypical" antipsychotic drugs. The hypothesis that the beneficial properties and the motor side effects of antipsychotic drugs result from their effects on different groups of dopamine neurons has received considerable attention. Numerous researchers have tried. to discover regiospecific actions of antipsychotic drugs in mesolimbic and in mesocortical dopamine neurons. An overview of these research attempts is presented here. Electrophysiological studies showed a selective action of atypical antipsychotic drugs on A 10 dopamine neurons. It was found that chronic treatment with these compounds induced a preferential depolarisation block of the A 10 neurons that project to the mesolimbic areas. The model represents certain clinical features of antipsychotic drug use and offers a possible explanation for the lack of extrapyramidal side effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs. Dopamine neurons projecting from A10 to the frontal cortex are also considered as a possible site of action of atypical antipsychotic drugs. Microdialysis studies have shown that certain atypical antipsychotic drugs selectively enhance the release of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex when compared with typical antipsychotic drugs. The finding that repeated treatment with antipsychotic drugs increased dopamine D-2 receptor binding in the frontal cortex confirms the significance of this brain area. These properties might indeed explain certain beneficial effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs such as improvement of cognitive dysfunction. However the effects of typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs in the frontal cortex could not be fully differentiated, which illustrates the difficulty of localising clinical effects of antipsychotic drugs in terms of regional dopamine neurons. Recently new insights into the mechanism of action of typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs have been published. Clinical positron emission tomography (PET) studies have indicated that a moderate dopamine D2 receptor occupancy, probably combined with a high dissociation rate, might provide the optimal clinical conditions for an antipsychotic drug, without inducing extrapyramidal side effects. Moreover the efficacy of benzamides as atypical antipsychotic drugs suggests that low to moderate dopamine D2 blockade is probably the most important-if not the only-criterion that determines "atypicality". Interestingly these new insights are based on PET studies of the human basal ganglia and not on the comparison of different brain areas. Apparently, according to this concept an ideal antipsychotic drug need not to act on a particular type of dopamine neurons, as it is the moderate dopamine D2 receptor occupancy that determines the desirable clinical effects. It is concluded that both beneficial actions and side effects, of antipsychotic drugs might be dose dependently localised in A9 as well as A10 dopamine neurons. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.</p

    Can antipsychotic drugs be classified by their effects on a particular group of dopamine neurons in the brain?

    No full text
    During the four decades that research has been carried out on antipsychotic drugs, a variety of methods have been used to study the effects of these compounds on dopamine neurotransmission. An important issue in this research was to find an explanation for the difference between "typical" and "atypical" antipsychotic drugs. The hypothesis that the beneficial properties and the motor side effects of antipsychotic drugs result from their effects on different groups of dopamine neurons has received considerable attention. Numerous researchers have tried. to discover regiospecific actions of antipsychotic drugs in mesolimbic and in mesocortical dopamine neurons. An overview of these research attempts is presented here. Electrophysiological studies showed a selective action of atypical antipsychotic drugs on A 10 dopamine neurons. It was found that chronic treatment with these compounds induced a preferential depolarisation block of the A 10 neurons that project to the mesolimbic areas. The model represents certain clinical features of antipsychotic drug use and offers a possible explanation for the lack of extrapyramidal side effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs. Dopamine neurons projecting from A10 to the frontal cortex are also considered as a possible site of action of atypical antipsychotic drugs. Microdialysis studies have shown that certain atypical antipsychotic drugs selectively enhance the release of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex when compared with typical antipsychotic drugs. The finding that repeated treatment with antipsychotic drugs increased dopamine D-2 receptor binding in the frontal cortex confirms the significance of this brain area. These properties might indeed explain certain beneficial effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs such as improvement of cognitive dysfunction. However the effects of typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs in the frontal cortex could not be fully differentiated, which illustrates the difficulty of localising clinical effects of antipsychotic drugs in terms of regional dopamine neurons. Recently new insights into the mechanism of action of typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs have been published. Clinical positron emission tomography (PET) studies have indicated that a moderate dopamine D2 receptor occupancy, probably combined with a high dissociation rate, might provide the optimal clinical conditions for an antipsychotic drug, without inducing extrapyramidal side effects. Moreover the efficacy of benzamides as atypical antipsychotic drugs suggests that low to moderate dopamine D2 blockade is probably the most important-if not the only-criterion that determines "atypicality". Interestingly these new insights are based on PET studies of the human basal ganglia and not on the comparison of different brain areas. Apparently, according to this concept an ideal antipsychotic drug need not to act on a particular type of dopamine neurons, as it is the moderate dopamine D2 receptor occupancy that determines the desirable clinical effects. It is concluded that both beneficial actions and side effects, of antipsychotic drugs might be dose dependently localised in A9 as well as A10 dopamine neurons. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

    MPP(+)-like neurotoxicity of a pyridinium metabolite derived from haloperidol:In vivo microdialysis and in vitro mitochondrial studies

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    Intracerebral (intrastriatal, intranigral and intracortical) microdialysis studies were conducted in conscious rats to investigate the comparative dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotoxic potential of the pyridinium metabolite 4-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-[4-(4-fluorophenyl)-4-oxobutyl]pyridinium (HPP+), derived from the extensively used neuroleptic agent haloperidol and 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), the pyridinium metabolite derived from the parkinsonian inducing agent 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Although HPP+ was less potent than MPP+ on the dopaminergic system, the two compounds displayed comparable toxic effects on the serotonergic system. HPP+ also proved to be a weaker inhibitor of mitochondrial respiration than MPP+ in vivo as measured by increases in extracellular lactate levels. On the other hand, HPP+ was a more potent inhibitor of mitochondrial respiration in vitro than MPP+, with IC50 values of 12 microM (HPP+) and 160 microM (MPP+). Quantitative estimations established that the concentrations of the more hydrophobic HPP+ in the brain tissues surrounding the microdialysis probe were less than those of MPP+ after comparable perfusions. Consequently, the inherent toxicity of HPP+ relative to MPP+ may be greater than suggested by the results observed in the microdialysis experiments. These data support previous speculations that HPP+ may contribute to some of the persistent extrapyramidal side effects associated with chronic haloperidol treatment
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