edited by David G. Lichter and Jeffrey L. Cummings, 448 pp, $75, Guilford Publications, New York, NY, 2000.
This text provides an updated and expanded review of the frontal-subcortical (FSC) circuits and their relationship to an array of psychiatric and neurologic disorders. Alexander, DeLong, and Strick initially proposed 5 circuits that originate in the frontal lobes and project to the striatum, then to the globus pallidus and substantia nigra, then to the thalamus, and finally back to the frontal lobes. The 3 FSC circuits involved in behavior and cognition include the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF) circuit, the lateral orbitofrontal (OF) circuit, and the anterior cingulate (AC) circuit. The neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and neurophysiology of these circuits are reviewed in detail, and 2 additional circuits with neurobehavioral relationships (medial orbitofrontal and inferotemporal/posterior parietal) are proposed. The cognitive and behavioral changes associated with dysfunction in each circuit are reviewed. The interactions between FSC circuits and psychiatric disorders (eg, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addiction, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and neurologic disorders (eg, Parkinson disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, postencephalitic parkinsonism, progressive supranuclear palsy, disinhibition-dementia-parkinsonism-amyotrophy complex, multiple system atrophy, spinocerebellar ataxia, corticobasal degeneration, basal ganglia calcification, Huntington disease, Wilson disease, neuroacanthocytosis, Sydenham chorea, and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome) are described. The authors also review the functional development of FSC circuits, the neuropharmacology of FSC circuits, and the neurobehavioral effects of surgery on FSC circuits (psychosurgery).