 |
 |
Frans van Duinen wrote: > > Hi Joe, > That is a good question! Either the Autonomous Nervous System is not totally > autonomous, or it has neurons that are of similar construction and subject to > whatever kills those brain cells. But as you observed that would involve > Dopamine throughout the body. Dopamine is ubiquitous, outside the CNS as well as inside. It's produced in quantity by the adrenal glands (attached to kidney), which were tried unsuccessfully smoe years ago as transplant material for PD; Also by the thalamus (if I recall correctly) whence it is carried by neural projections to the pituitary, a mysterious combined endocrine gland and neural center. That organ seems to be unaffected by PD, but one function regulated by dopamine is to produce prolactin (in nursing mothers). And when the reduced supply of dopamine to the pituitary causes hyper- prolactinemia, the standard drug treatment is guues what?: Old familiar dopamine agonist bromocriptine (Parlodel), or the more effective agonist cabergoline (Dostinex, in the US. Cheers, Joe -- J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 3527 Cody Road Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013