Neuropharmacology of tics

In pharmacological treatment of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome neuroleptic (antipsychotic) drugs have been the most effective. This has led to the hypothesis of a relative dopaminergic overactivity in the brain. Animal studies with neuroleptic drugs different in their affinity to different dopamine areas as well as studies with drugs different in their selectivity to different receptors have, however, not shown direct correlations to the clinical response in the treatment of hyperkinetic syndromes. There is a trend that drugs with high affinity to striatal D2-receptors might be the most potent. Other attempts to change brain dopamine in different ways using cholinergic, GABAergic, and peptidergic drugs have given rather poor clinical results. The apparent importance of brain dopamine in a whole range of neuropsychiatric diseases may be due to the central role of basal dopaminergic areas as a relay station for a lot of neuronal pathways.