Poster
# 95
Poster |
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6th Internet World Congress for Biomedical Sciences |
Nicola B. Mercuri(1), Pernilla Grillner(2)
(1)IRCCS Santa Lucia, University of Rome Tor Vergata - Rome. Italy
(2)Dept Physiology and Pharmacology. Karolinska Institutet - Stockholm. Sweden
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Contact address: |
Nicola B. Mercuri IRCCS Santa Lucia, University of Rome Tor Vergata Via Ardeatina 306 Rome 00179 Italy Mercurin@med.uniroma2.it |
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[Cell Biology & Cytology] |
[Neuroscience] |
Dopamine (DA) neurones of the ventral mesencephalon are involved in the control of reward related behaviour, cognitive functions and motor performances, and provide a critical site of action for major categories of neuropsychiatric drugs, such as antipsychotic agents, dependence producing drugs and anti-Parkinson medication. The midbrain DA neurones are mainly located in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNPC) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Intrinsic membrane properties regulate the activity of these neurons. In fact, they possess several conductances that aloud them to fire in a slow pacemaker-like mode. The internal set of membrane currents interacts with afferent synaptic inputs which, especially in in vivo conditions, contribute to accelerate or decelerate the firing activity of the cells in accordance with the necessity to optimise the release of dopamine in the terminal fields. In particular, discrete excitatory and inhibitory inputs transform the firing from a low regular in to a bursting pattern. The bursting activity promotes dopamine release being very important in cognition and motor performances. In the present paper we review electrophysiological data regarding the role of glutamatergic and cholinergic and GABAergic afferent inputs in regulating the midbrain DAergic neuronal activity.
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[Cell Biology & Cytology] |
[Neuroscience] |
