Potenciales evocados somatosensoriales y respuesta sintomática a medicamentos dopaminérgicos en enfermedad de Parkinson / Somatosensory evoked potentials and sintomatic response to dopaminergic drugs in Parkinson's disease

Short latency somatosensory evoked potentials were measured in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease before and after tha administration of Apomorphine 5 mg sc. Eight of these subjects were reassessed after one month of treatment with Levo-dopa. These potentials were measured in other nine subjects before and after one month of treatment with Selegiline 10 mg od. There was a significant increase of frontal potential N30 in nine of 10 subjects that received apomorphine, in seven of 8 patients treated with Levodopa and 7 of 9 patients treated with Selegiline. No changes in N20 parietal potential were observed. During apomorphine test, changes in N30 potential preceded clinical improvement in 6 patients and occurred simultaneously in 3 patients. No changes with apomorphine in N30 potential were observed in 2 healthy males. There was no relationship between electrophysiological changes and duration of disease or motor fluctuations. It is concluded that short latency somatosensory evoked potentials are an objective means of measuring dopaminergic response in patients with Parkinson's disease

Evidence to support the influence of the nucleus accumbens on drug-induced psychopathology

This study was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that the mesolimbic dopamine pathways are involved in the manifestations of psychotic symptoms. Rats were injected with amphetamine (5.0 mg/kg) and apomorphine (1.0 mg/kg) following bilateral lesions of the nucleus accumbens. The results showed high levels of stereotypy following amphetamine administrations in contrast to the low levels seen after the administration of apomorphine. These results, in conjunction with previous experiments involving the globus pallidus, were evaluated in terms of the accumbens' influence on drug-induced psychosis (AU)