Recent developments in basal ganglia research and application to psychiatry

Functionally dopamine neurons can be organised into dorsal and ventral tiers. Dorsal tiers may be associated with schizophrenia. Ventral tiers may be associated with Parkinson’s disease. Putamen circuit controls complex patterns of motor activity. Caudate circuit is responsible for cognitive control of sequences of motor patterns. Tremor, chorea, dystonia, athetosis and hemiballismus are involuntary movements associated with damage to basal ganglia. Movement disorders with basal ganglia as the location of primary neuropathology are idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, parkinsonian syndromes, progressive supranuclear palsy, Huntington’s disease, Wilson’s disease and dystonia. Various antipsychotics are associated with medication-induced movement disorders. Neuroleptic-induced movement disorders are neuroleptic-induced parkinsonism, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, neuroleptic-induced acute dystonia, neuroleptic-induced acute akathisia and neuroleptic-induced tardive dyskinesia.