Morphofunctional studies of the interactions of the glutamatergic, cholinergic, and dopaminergic systems in the neostriatum.

Morphological, electrophysiological, and behavioral experiments were used to study the interactions of the glutamatergic, cholinergic, and dopaminergic systems in the neostriatum of white rats with unilateral lesions of the mesostriatal dopaminergic system induced by 6-hydroxydopamine. The neostriatum was shown to contain both synaptic and interneuronal nonsynaptic interactions between these neurochemical systems. It is suggested that glutamate, which is present in excess in conditions of prolonged dopamine deficiency, has toxic effects on corticoneostriatal synaptic connections.