Development of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway

Abstract

Brain circuits at birth are immature and refined by intrinsic mechanisms and effects of the microenvironment. Immature neural circuits are also plastic and therefore vulnerable to the impact of external or environmental factors which can alter its functionality and result in the expression of circuits or aberrant behavior associated with pathologies. Functional abnormalities of basal ganglia can cause some neuropsychiatric pathologies and behavioral manifestations. Anatomy and functioning of the corticostriatals circuits are known in the adult animal but, is there evidence of its maturation is completed in late stages of postnatal development?