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"Striatal plasticity" is a term describing a variety of morphological and functional changes occurring both at pre- and post-synaptic level within the basal ganglia. In most cases striatal plasticity occurs when a loss of dopamine (DA) fibers in the striatum, in the course of Parkinsonism takes place. Plastic events include early pre-synaptic and long-term post-synaptic changes. In the context of long-term changes associated with striatal plasticity the role of intrinsic striatal catecholamine cells is emerging. This neuronal population expresses both tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and DA transporter (DAT). These TH-positive cells are normally resident within the human caudate putamen but they dramatically increase during parkinsonism reaching an amount roughly corresponding to 50% of nigrostriatal neurons counted in control brains. This evidence led to hypothesize fascinating mechanisms bridging these neurons either with compensatory changes or the onset of aberrant behavioral activity. Very recently the occurrence of these neurons was described during DA replacement therapy in parkinsonism, thus suggesting that these cells may represent the anatomical basis for plastic phenomena. Thus, the present article, in the attempt to describe novel mechanisms generating striatal plasticity, details these cells in development and adult life and their potential role in maturation phenomena occurring in parkinsonism.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE It is thought that the mechanism of action of anticancer chemotherapeutic agents is mainly due to a direct inhibition of tumour cell proliferation. In tumour specimens, the endothelial cell proliferation rate increases, suggesting that the therapeutic effects of anticancer agents could also be attributed to inhibition of tumour angiogenesis. Hence, we investigated the potential effects of [Pt (O,O′-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)] ([Pt(DMS)]), a new platinum drug for non-genomic targets, on human renal carcinoma and compared them with those of the well-established anticancer drug, cisplatin. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Tumour growth, tumour cell proliferation and microvessel density were investigated in a xenograft model of renal cell carcinoma, developed by injecting Caki-1 cells into BALB/c nude mice. The antiangiogenic potential of compounds was also investigated using HUVECs. KEY RESULTS Treatment of the Caki-1 cells with cisplatin or [Pt(DMS)] resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell survival, but the cytotoxicity of [Pt(DMS)] was approximately fivefold greater than that of cisplatin. [Pt(DMS)] was much more effective than cisplatin at inhibiting tumour growth, proliferation and angiogenesis in vivo, as well as migration, tube formation and MMP1, MMP2 and MMP9 secretion of endothelial cells in vitro. Whereas, cisplatin exerted a greater cytotoxic effect on HUVECs, but did not affect tube formation or the migration of endothelial cells. In addition, treatment of the xenograft mice with [Pt(DMS)] decreased VEGF, MMP1 and MMP2 expressions in tumours. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The antiangiogenic and antitumour activities of [Pt(DMS)] provide a solid starting point for its validation as a suitable candidate for further pharmacological testing.