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This volume arose out of the symposium: "The Basal Ganglia: Structure and Function," held at the beginning of September 1983 as a satellite of the 29th International Congress of Physiological Sciences. The symposium took place at Lorne, a village on the ocean 150km south-west of Melbourne in a former holiday guest-house situated beside the beach. The sounds of surf and winter rain on the iron roof provided a background to the proceedings. The symposium was a happy and productive event, among a small group of participants from twelve countries, undistracted by any competing activities in the out-of-season period. Over three days, there were formal papers with lively discussion, as well as posters displayed continuously and available for comment during coffee and lunch breaks. The more philosophical views on the basal ganglia were aired at informal evening discussions after dinner. At the symposium banquet on the final night, the participants voted to form the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS); Malcolm Carpenter was elected Foundation President, with Richard Faull as Organizing Secretary. The book comprises papers prepared by participants after returning home, so that they had opportunities for incorporating fruits of symposium discussions. Some anticipated contributors were finally unable to participate, and a few who presented data preferred not to submit papers for the book.

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Anatomy of the System - Interconnections, Inputs And Outputs.- Interconnections Between the Corpus Striatum and Brain Stem Nuclei.- Thalamostriate Projections - an Overview.- The Primate Striato-Pallido-Nigral System: An Integrative System for Cortical Information.- The Termination of Striatonigral fibres on Nigrotectal Neurons in the Rat - A Preliminary Report.- Serotoninergic Innervation of the Monkey Basal Ganglia: An Immunocytochemical, Light and Electron Microscopy Study.- Fluorescent Double Labeling Studies of Thalamostriatal and Corticostriatal Neurons.- The Output Organization of the Pallidum and Substantia Nigra in Primate as Revealed by a Retrograde Double-Labeling Method.- Neural Mechanisms - Synaptic Actions, Transmitters and Receptors, Output Mechanisms.- Dopamine Decreases the Amplitude of Excitatory Post-Synaptic Potentials in Rat Striatal Neurones.- Presynaptic Actions and Dopamine in the Neostriatum.- Anatomy and Neurophysiology of the Subthalamic Efferent Neurons.- Neural Activity in Basal Ganglia Output Nuclei and Induced Hypermotility.- Tonic Nigral Control of Tecto Spinal/Tecto Diencephalic Branched Neurons: A Possible Implication of Basal Ganglia in Orienting Behavior.- Basal Ganglia Transmitters And Receptors.- The Regulation of Striatal Dopamine Receptors: Subsensitivity Induced by Hyperthyroidism or REM Sleep Deprivation.- Can Enzymes Released from the Nigro-Striatal Pathway Act as Neuromodulators?.- Functions of the Basal Ganglia in Posture, Movement and Behaviour.- Diseases of the Basal Ganglia.- Long Latency Reflexes in Patients with Basal Ganglia Disorders.- Motor Effects Produced by Disruption of Basal Ganglia Output to the Thalamus.- Unilateral Electrolytic and 6-OHDA Lesions of the Substantia Nigra in Baboons: Behavioural and Biochemical Data.- Postural and Behavioural Changes Related to Nigral Cell Loss in Monkeys.- Neurobiological Changes Induced by Neostriatal Kainic Acid Injection; An Electrophysiological and Morphological Approach to the Physiopathology of Huntington´s Chorea.- Dopamine Neurone Degeneration-like Deficits Produced by Intrahypothalamic Dopamine Injections.- Output Pathways Mediating Basal Ganglia Function.- Responses of Neurons in Different Regions of the Striatum of the Behaving Monkey.- Consequences of Disturbed GABA-Ergic Transmission in Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata in Freely Moving Cats on their Motor Behaviour, and in Anaesthetized Cats on their Spinal Motor Elements.- Basal Ganglia and Switching Motor Programs.- Structure and Function of the Basal Ganglia: A Point of View.- Symposium Participants.

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