The aim of the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) is to further our understanding of normal basal ganglia function and the pathophysiology of disorders of the basal ganglia, including Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and schizophrenia. Each triennial meeting of IBAGS brings together basic research scientists from all disciplines as well as clinicians who are actively involved in the treatment of basal ganglia disorders, to discuss the most recent advances in the field and to generate new approaches and ideas for the future. This volume comprises the proceedings of the 9th meeting of IBAGS, held in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, September 2nd-6th, 2007.

Over the past 25 years the amount of data pertaining to the GABAergic function in the basal ganglia has increased dramatically. GABA and the Basal Ganglia - From Molecules to Systems is a comprehensive review of the current state-of-the-art of knowledge about the neuroanatomy, neuropharmacology and neurophysiology of the basal ganglia, focusing on its GABAergic microcircuitry. It serves as a complete reference to the body of knowledge about the basal ganglia, its constituent neurons, and their interconnections. This volume is designed to serve as a convenient all-in-one review and reference for experienced basal ganglia researchers as well as an introduction to the functional organization of the basal ganglia and its GABAergic circuitry for students and researchers new to the field. * Reviews the anatomy, physiology and pharmacology of the basal ganglia itself in addition to focusing on the GABAergic circuitry of the basal ganglia * Authors of each chapter leading internationally acclaimed experts in basal ganglia research

This groundbreaking text takes current knowledge of the basal ganglia far from well-known motor-based models to a more inclusive understanding of deep-brain structure and function. Synthesizing diverse perspectives from across the brain-behavioral sciences, it tours the neuroanatomy and circuitry of the basal ganglia, linking their organization to their controlling functions in core cognitive, behavioral, and motor areas, both normative and disordered. Interactions between the basal ganglia and major structures of the brain are identified in their contributions to a diverse range of processes, from language processing to decision-making, emotion to visual perception, motivation to intent. And the basal ganglia are intimately involved in the mechanisms of dysfunction, as evinced by chapters on dyskinesia, Parkinson’s disease, neuropsychiatric conditions, and addictions. Included in the coverage: Limbic-basal ganglia circuits: parallel and integrative aspects. Dopamine and its actions in the basal ganglia system. Cerebellar-basal ganglia interactions. The basal ganglia contribution to controlled and automatic processing. The basal ganglia and decision making in neuropsychiatric disorders. The circuitry underlying the reinstatement of cocaine seeking: modulation by deep brain stimulation. The basal ganglia and hierarchical control in voluntary behavior. Its breadth and depth of scholarship and data should make The Basal Ganglia a work of great interest to cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists, neuropsychologists, neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, and speech-language pathologists.

The Basal Ganglia comprise a group of forebrain nuclei that are interconnected with the cerebral cortex, thalamus and brainstem. Basal ganglia circuits are involved in various functions, including motor control and learning, sensorimotor integration, reward and cognition. The importance of these nuclei for normal brain function and behavior is emphasized by the numerous and diverse disorders associated with basal ganglia dysfunction, including Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, Huntington’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, dystonia, and psychostimulant addiction. The Handbook of Basal Ganglia provides a comprehensive overview of the structural and functional organization of the basal ganglia, with special emphasis on the progress achieved over the last 10-15 years. Organized in six parts, the volume describes the general anatomical organization and provides a review of the evolution of the basal ganglia, followed by detailed accounts of recent advances in anatomy, cellular/molecular, and cellular/physiological mechanisms, and our understanding of the behavioral and clinical aspects of basal ganglia function and dysfunction. Synthesizes widely dispersed information on the behavioral neurobiology of the basal ganglia, including advances in the understanding of anatomy, cell-molecular and cell-physiological mechanisms, and behavioral/clinical aspects of function and dysfunction Features a truly international cast of the preeminent researchers in the field Fully explores the clinically relevant impact of the basal ganglia on various psychiatric and neurological diseases

The basal ganglia has received much attention over the last two decades, as it has been implicated in many neurological and psychiatric disorders. Most of this research—in both animals and humans—attempt to understand the neural and biochemical substrates of basic motor and learning processes, and how these are affected in human patients as well as animal models of brain disorders. The current volume contains research articles and reviews describing basic, pre-clinical and clinical neuroscience research of the basal ganglia written by attendees of the 11th Triennial Meeting of the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) that was held March 3-7th, 2013 at the Princess Hotel, Eilat, Israel and by researchers of the basal ganglia. Specifically, articles in this volume include research reports on the biochemistry, computational theory, anatomy and physiology of single neurons and functional circuitry of the basal ganglia networks as well as the latest data on animal models of basal ganglia dysfunction and clinical studies in human patients.

This volume contains articles describing research on the basic, pre-clinical and clinical neuroscience of the basal ganglia written by attendees of the 10th Triennial Meeting of the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) that was held June 20-24th, 2010 at the Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. For each of the preceding 9 IBAGS meetings, the meeting proceedings were published conventionally as a volume in the Advances in Behavioral Biology series. These volumes were expensive, were published only in very small quantities, had very limited availability to both basal ganglia researchers and the general neuroscience community, were not available on-line and the articles contained in each were not indexed in online searchable databases. Now, for the first time, IBAGS is taking full advantage of modern innovations in scientific publication and publishing IBAGS X as a Research Topics issue of Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. The issue will be available on-line and is fully indexed by searchable databases including PubMed. Articles will include reports on the latest research on the anatomy and neurophysiology of single neurons and functional circuitry in the striatum, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra as well as the latest data on animal models of basal ganglia dysfunction as well as behavioral and clinical studies in human patients.

This textbook takes as a premise that, in order to make intelligent diagnosis and provide a rational treatment in disorders of the nervous system, it is necessary to develop the capacity to answer the basic questions of clinical neurology: (1) Where is the disease process located? (2) What is the nature of the disease process? The purpose of this textbook is to enable the medical student to acquire the basic information of the neurosciences and neurology and most importantly the ability to apply that information to the solution of clinical problems. The authors also suggest that hospital trips be a part of any Clinical Neurosciences Course so that the student can put into actual practice what he has learned in the classroom. We believe that this textbook will be of value to the student throughout the four years of the medical school curriculum. Medical, psychiatry and neurology residents may also find this text of value as an introduction or review.