[The experimental reproduction of catecholamine-deficient states and the problem of parkinsonism (the theoretical and practical aspects)].

The most widely used methods for production of the catecholamine (mainly dopamine) deficit in the brain of experimental animals are considered (a blockade of dopamine receptors by neuroleptics, transection of appropriate pathways and lesion of catecholaminergic neurons by specific cytoneurotoxins: 6-hydroxydopamine and 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine). It is shown that elucidation of physiological and biochemical disturbances developing against a background of dopamine deficiency in the nigrostriatal system significantly promotes existing ideas about the role of basal ganglia in regulation of the motor activity, etiology and pathogenesis of parkinsonism and permits elaborating new principles of treatment of their disorders.