Behavioural deactivations syndrome: abulia, hypodopaminergia and neuropsychologia

ABSTRACT

The current search to understand the neural substrate of goal- directed behaviour has created a new thrust of interest in unlocking the mystery behind those disorders that are characterized with poverty of thought and action. In this paper, various studies are reviewed to converge evidences that brain circuit rich in dopaminergic activity running from ventral tegmentum, and projecting in the nucleus accumbens and frontal cortex tend to produce abulia when its restitutive function fails. We will begin by examining consequences of dopamine agonism and Antagonism from preclinical studies as well as the inferences that can be made from studies in human. Then we discuss abulic features in neuropsychaiatric conditions, focusing on clinical manifestation, animal models, abnormal dopamine activity and pharmacological interventions: