Dopamine receptor abnormalities in the striatum and pallidum in tardive dyskinesia: a post mortem study.

Dopamine D1 and D2 receptors were determined in brain tissue taken post mortem from schizophrenic patients previously known to have had tardive dyskinesia and yet who had not received neuroleptic drug treatment for over one year prior to death. In comparison with age-matched control subjects, diminished D2 receptor density was observed in striatal regions, while these receptors appeared to be increased in the pallidum, an area of the brain particularly implicated in the production of dyskinesias. D 1 receptors showed similar tendencies to lower numbers in the striatum in tardive dyskinesia.