Current aspects of extrapyramidal disorders

: Within the past decade, the harmonious anatomic aspect of the basal ganglia has changed for inhomogeneous structures filled up with a wealth of neurotransmitters and receptor subtypes with massive vertical and horizontal interconnections, asking for new mathematical concepts like parallel distributed processing of computation to approach their respective functions. Moreover, not only the motor control, but also some important aspects of cognition, eye motions, and limbic functions seem to be processed in the basal ganglia. Their overall threshold of activity seems to be under the bipolar control of the substantia nigra and the subthalamic nucleus; this results in hyper or hypokinetic syndromes. Few practical or therapeutical results have come out from the last radiological technologies and biochemical studies of extrapyramidal disorders, but the wealth of information brings hope for new issues from the knowledge in molecular biology, neuropharmacology, and from earlier diagnosis of these diseases in the future.