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Abstract
Basal ganglia disorders are a heterogeneous group of clinical syndromes with a common
anatomic locus within the basal ganglia. To account for the variety of clinical manifestations
associated with insults to various parts of the basal ganglia we propose a model in
which specific types of basal ganglia disorders are associated with changes in the
function of subpopulations of striatal projection neurons. This model is based on
a synthesis of experimental animal and post-mortem human anatomic and neurochemical
data. Hyperkinetic disorders, which are characterized by an excess of abnormal movements,
are postulated to result from the selective impairment of striatal neurons projecting
to the lateral globus pallidus. Hypokinetic disorders, such as Parkinson's disease,
are hypothesized to result from a complex series of changes in the activity of striatal
projection neuron subpopulations resulting in an increase in basal ganglia output.
This model suggests that the activity of subpopulations of striatal projection neurons
is differentially regulated by striatal afferents and that different striatal projection
neuron subpopulations may mediate different aspects of motor control.