[The role of the neurons of the locus coeruleus and ventral tegmental area in the development of catecholamine-deficient conditions].

: Selective neurotoxic effect of 6-hydroxydopamine on the catecholaminergic systems was used to study the structural changes in the locus coeruleus and ventral tegmental neurons. Compared with the earlier published data on the blood-brain barrier permeability, the peculiarities of the responses of a part of neurons and synapses of the sites under study suggest that this selective catecholaminergic systems lesion leads to a decrease in their influence on the brain structures innervated. This causes impairment of inter-neurotransmitter relations and provide a morphological basis of various functional CNS shifts.