Dopamine and Glutamate in Huntington’s Disease

The striatum is the main input structure of the basal ganglia. It is a centrally located region where afferents from the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and substantia nigra converge and interact. Glutamate is released from cortical and, to a lesser extent, thalamic terminals (1,2). Dopamine (DA) is released from nigrostriatal terminals (3). Because glutamate and DA inputs terminate on the same spines of striatal medium-sized spiny neurons (MSSNs), these sites offer the potential for physiological interactions between the glutamate and DA transmitter systems (4).