Synaptic plasticity in striatal function

Published on June 2, 2014   37 min

Other Talks in the Series: Parkinson's Disease

Please wait while the transcript is being prepared...
0:00
The topic of this lecture will be the role of synaptic plasticity in striatal function. This topic is of great importance both for the physiology of basal ganglia as well as for the understanding of the pathophysiology of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
0:23
This presentation will summarize some critical aspects of striatal synaptic plasticity in both physiological and autological conditions. We will present data dealing with the role of dopamine in basil ganglia and Parkinson's disease. We will discuss how synaptic plasticity plays a key role in the regulation of physiological activity of the striatum and in pathogenetic conditions such as Parkinson's disease, and we will also discuss the interaction between dopamine and other neurotransmitter systems in both physiological and pathological condition. Finally, we will show a few experiments in which the role of synaptic plasticity will also be presented from clinical data in Parkinson's disease patients.
1:23
The first aspect presented here will be the critical role of basal ganglia and dopamine in motor and nonmotor functions involving selection processes.
1:38
The complex circuitry of the basal ganglia and the dopaminergic transmission are involved in a wide range of functions. They have been implicated not only in motor function but also in reward, perception, learning, and memory. All these functions require selection processes, and striatal synaptic plasticity plays a critical role in these selections.