Contributions of signaling by dopamine neurons in dorsal striatum to cognitive behaviors corresponding to those observed in Parkinson's disease.

ABSTRACT: Although the cardinal features of Parkinson's disease (PD) are motor symptoms, PD also causes cognitive deficits including cognitive flexibility and working memory, which are strongly associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions. Yet, early stage PD is not characterized by pathology in the PFC but by a loss of dopaminergic (DA) projections from the substantia nigra to the dorsal striatum. Moreover, the degree to which PD symptoms can be ascribed to the loss of DA alone or to the loss of DA neurons is unknown. We addressed these issues by comparing mouse models of either chronic DA depletion or loss of DA projections to the dorsal striatum. We achieved equal levels of striatal DA reduction in both models which ranged from mild (~25%) to moderate (~60%). Both models displayed DA concent

SUBMITTER: Darvas M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4001780 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature