Extrastriatal dopaminergic dysfunction in tourette syndrome

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder presenting with tics and a constellation of nonmotor symptoms that includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and impulse control disorders. Accumulated evidence from pharmacological trials and postmortem analyses suggests that abnormalities of dopaminergic neurotransmission play a key role in the pathogenesis of TS. A substantial body of evidence has also accrued to implicate regions outside the striatum in the generation of tics.