ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL PHARMACOLOGY OF THE AUTORECEPTOR-MEDIATED RESPONSES OF DOPAMINERGIC CELLS TO ANTIPARKINSONIAN DRUGS

It is generally accepted that the dopamine receptor ligands currently used in the treatment of parkinsonian symptoms mainly stimulate dopami ne (DA) receptors of the D2 family to produce beneficial effects. Alth ough several animal models can provide useful indications on the activ ity of the antiparkinsonian drugs in the brain, the specific cellular sites and the mechanism of action of these therapeutic agents are not completely known. In this article, Nicola Mercuri, Antonello Bonci and Giorgio Bernardi suggest that the electrophysiological effects of ant iparkinsonian drugs on nigral dopaminergic cells are related to their clinical efficacy. In addition, they report that the stimulation of th e D2 'autoreceptors' located on the residual dopamine-containing cells is implicated in the therapeutic response elicited by dopamine recept or agonists in parkinsonism. Thus, an electrophysiological approach, w hich can give basic information regarding the actions of direct and in direct DA receptor agonists on the dopaminergic neurones, might be rel evant for the evolution of the pharmacological strategies in Parkinson 's disease.