Editorial Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry, 2014, Vol. 14, No.

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EDITORIAL

Dopamine in The Brain

Three Thematic Issues summarize relevant information on dopamine signaling under a variety of
experimental conditions to study brain functions as affected by sex hormones and phophodiesterases.  
The first Thematic Issue, sex hormones and brain dopamine function, examines the action of
androgens, estrogens and progesterone as well endocrine disruptors on dopamine metabolism acting
through membrane as well nuclear receptors on specific dopamine circuits.  
The second Thematic Issue, estradiol, dopamine and motivation, specifically focus on the action of
estradiol on motivates behaviors mediated by dopamine mainly through changes in the activity of two
major nuclei, the striatum and nucleus accumbens. Interestingly, estradiol is able to acutely enhance Da
signaling in females but not males in these nuclei most likely through estrogen membrane receptors.  
The third Thematic Issue, regulation of dopamine signaling in the striatum by phosphodiesterases, describes the relevance
of these enzymes on the function of dopamine signaling and how specific inhibitors can be used as novel therapeutics to treat
neurological and psychiatric disorders. A detail discussion of the PDE families are summarize in this review and the potential
of PDE1 and PDE2 inhibitors for cognitive disorders and PDE10 for the treatment of schizophrenia and Huntington’disease are
the main focus by the authors.  
Overall these Thematic Issues on Brain Dopamine function well summarize current and relevant information of the action
of sex hormones and the PDE families on brain physiological and pathological conditions.  

Dr. Víctor D. Ramírez

Guest Editor: Central Nervous System Agents in Medicinal Chemistry
Cellular and Molecular Integrative Physiology
Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign
524 Burrill Hall, 407 S. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana IL 61801
USA
E-mail: vdramire@illinois.edu