[Dopaminergic modulation of cerebral activity and cognitive functions]

Alterations in dopaminergic system are known to lie in the basis of such diseases as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Tourette syndrome, schizophrenia and drug abuse. This induced broad investigations of dopaminergic system in nearly all the areas of neuroscience. New insights into the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric diseases have emerged. Research in the field of dopaminergic neurotransmission and memory was awarded Nobel prize in the year 2000. New avenues for the development of more selective drugs have been opened. In their daily practice clinicians are often prescribing medications acting on presynaptic or postsynaptic sites of dopaminergic units. Thus the aim of this review was to renew some knowledge on the architecture of dopaminergic system and also to glance through some of the studies implying its modulating effect on cognitive functions.