Dopamine neurotransmission in Parkinson's disease
Cramb KML., Noor H., Wade-Martins R., Cragg SJ.
The loss of dopaminergic neurons and reduced levels of striatal dopamine in Parkinson's disease are descriptions typically used interchangeably as underlying the characterizing motor deficits. However, decades of research indicate that dopamine release deficits in Parkinson's disease do not occur only after cell death but that there is dysfunction or dysregulation of axonal dopamine release before cell loss. In this chapter, we discuss the regulation of dopamine neurotransmission and the mechanisms by which release deficits occur in Parkinson's disease. The evidence indicates that impaired dopamine release can result from disruption to a diverse range of Parkinson's disease-associated genetic and molecular disturbances and can be considered a pathophysiological hallmark of Parkinson's disease.