Basal Ganglia Part 2 Flashcards
What is Huntingtons Chorea, what is it caused by?
invountary jerky movements due to lesions of the striatum and cortex. underactivity of the indirect pathway due to loss of striatal GABA
What is Athetosis and what is it caused by?
writhing movements of the limbs due to loss of striatal GABA
What is hemiballismus? What is it caused by?
flailing of limbs on one side of the body due to a lesion of the subthalamus (stroke, virus)
reduced DA projection to the caudate and putamen in parkinsons causes which symptoms?
involuntary movements
reduced DA projection to the nucleus acumbens causes which symptoms?
bradykinesia and cognitive dysfunction
what can happen if the drug dosage of levodopa in parkinsons patients is too high?
schizophrenia-like symptoms
What is the purpose of the PPN extrapyramidal pathway?
posture maintenance
what kind of disorder is parkinsons disease?
an extrapyramidal disorder
What causes the tremors in parkinsons disease?
less regulation of reticulospinal extrapyramidal tracts for posture maintenance
What can happen to shcizophrenic patients given too high a dose of DA inhibitors?
PD-like tremors
Why do parkinsons patients rely more on external cues for intitiation of movement than internal cues?
because they produce less dopamine
the greatest degeneration in the DA projection system in patients with parkinsons is seen in what structure/ cortico-spinal tract?
the putamen (motor/somatosensory tract)
What is kinesia paradoxa?
the overriding of faulty executive decisions with visual cues seen in some parkinsons patients
Addictive drugs affect which DA pathway?
mesolimbic pathway
chronic drug and alcohol abuse is associated with :
hypofrontality (decreased ability of the PFC to inhibit nucleus accumbens (motivational) behavior
