Atypical antipsychotic drugs have been shown to preferentially affect extrastriatal (mesolimbic) D2/D3 receptors over those within the striatum (nigrostriatal). The striatum does not contain exclusively nigrostriatal dopamine tracts, however. The caudate nucleus and ventral parts of the striatum primarily contain limbic and associative dopamine pathways more relevant to psychosis.
Section of Neurochemical Imaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK. j.stone@iop.kcl.ac.uk
