Dopaminergic and Muscareinc Cholinergic Receptor Subtype: Localization to Neurotransmitters Specific Components of the Striatum

Abstract

Disorders of the striatum (for review see Albin et al., 1989) usually surface as disturbances in motor function (see Delong and Georgopoulos, 1982), although other functions are most certainly associated with the caudate as well. These disorders result in alterations of receptor populations within the caudate-putamen (Seeman et al., 1987). Knowledge of the neurotransmitter specific connections and their accompanying receptors within the striatum would provide a means of predicting the effects of a pharmacological agent, acting at dopaminergic or cholinergic receptor subtypes, on the overall output of the system. Such information would be invaluable in drug development and would add tc the general body of knowledge concerning the striatum’s role in movement. One way investigators have sought to understand the receptor specific connections within the striatum associated with dopaminergic and cholinergic receptor subtypes is by combining the techniques of autoradiography (Kuhar et al., 1986) and neurotoxin induced lesions of specific cell populations contributing to the striatal system.