Origin and termination of the diencephalo-spinal dopamine system in the rat

Neurons of the Dopaminergic/Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide A11 Cell Group Modulate Neuronal Firing in the Trigeminocervical Complex: An Electrophysiological and Immunohistochemical Study

“…Dahlstrom and Fuxe (1964) originally described the A11 as dopaminergic nucleus. These diencephalic neurons seem solely responsible for dopamine innervation of the dorsal horn and straddle the region of the mammillothalamic tract (Skagerberg et al, 1982). At one point, the A11 has been described as part of the Spf (Takada et al, 1988).…”

F-Wave Duration as a Specific and Sensitive Tool for the Diagnosis of Restless Legs Syndrome/Willis-Ekbom Disease

“…The pathophysiology of RLS/WED has not been fully elucidated; an alteration of the spinal hypothalamic dopaminergic tract that modulates the excitability of various neuronal population is suggested. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Different studies carried out on spinal excitability assessing reflexes in patients affected by RLS-PLMD has led to contrasting results, with some showing an increase in spinal excitability, 14,15 while others showed no differences between patients and controls. 16 Recently, Isak et al 21 suggested that the exploration of some parameters, namely the F-wave duration (FWD), the ratio between FWD and the duration of related compound muscle action potential (CMAPD), FWD/CMAPD, and the silent period ratio (SPR) would be helpful in the diagnosis of primary RLS/WED.…”

Conversion of the Modulatory Actions of Dopamine on Spinal Reflexes from Depression to Facilitation in D3Receptor Knock-Out Mice

“…The sole source for spinal dopamine is the A11 cell group in the dorsal posterior hypothalamus (Skagerberg et al, 1982;Lindvall et al, 1983;Skagerberg and Lindvall, 1985;. A11 dopaminergic neurons send collaterals throughout most of the spinal cord, but mostly exclude the substantia gelatinosa.…”