Endocannabinoids and their receptors play a modulatory role in the control of dopamine transmission in the basal ganglia. However, this influence is generally indirect and exerted through the modulation of GABA and glutamate inputs received by nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, which lack cannabinoid CB1 receptors although they may produce endocannabinoids. Additional evidence suggests that CB2 receptors may be located in nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, and that certain eicosanoid-related cannabinoids may directly activate TRPV1 receptors, which have been found in nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, thus allowing in both cases a direct regulation of dopamine transmission by specific cannabinoids. In addition, CB1 receptors form heteromers with dopaminergic receptors which provide another pathway to direct interactions between both systems, in this case at the postsynaptic level. Through these direct mechanisms or through indirect mechanisms involving GABA or glutamate neurons, cannabinoids may interact with dopaminergic transmission in the basal ganglia and this is likely to have important effects on dopamine-related functions in these structures (i.e. control of movement) and, particularly, on different pathologies affecting these processes, in particular, Parkinson's disease, but also dyskinesia, dystonia and other pathological conditions. The present review will address the current literature supporting these cannabinoid-dopamine interactions at the basal ganglia, with emphasis on aspects dealing with the physiopathological consequences of these interactions. DOI:10.1111/bph.13215 www.brjpharmacol.org
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Overview of the endocannabinoid signalling system and its interaction with neurotransmitter systemsIt is well established that the endocannabinoid system, formed by different signalling lipids, the enzymes involved in their synthesis and degradation, and their target receptors, plays a modulatory function in important processes of the CNS. This includes the control of movement (see Fernández-Ruiz, 2009), learning and memory (see Zanettini et al., 2011), emotional behaviour (see McLaughlin and Gobbi, 2012), nociception (see Guindon and Hohmann, 2009), brain reward (see Solinas et al., 2008), feeding behaviour (see Kirkham, 2009) and emesis (see Parker et al., 2011), among others. This modulatory function is exerted through the ability of endocannabinoids and their receptors to participate in the retrograde signalling in different synapses located in those brain structures that regulate these processes (Castillo et al., 2012). This is facilitated by the presynaptic location of cannabinoid CB1 receptors, the key neuronal cannabinoid receptor type, that allow endocannabinoids to directly modulate the function of most of neurotransmitters including glutamate, GABA, opioid peptides, acetylcholine and 5-HT (see Heifets and Castillo, 2009;Kano et al., 2009). This function is particularly important in the case of glutamatergic and GABAergic synapses, in which, through welldefined proc...