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Toxic Agents

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Essentials of Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders

Abstract

Cerebellum is vulnerable to intoxication and poisoning, especially in elderly patients and in patients with structural lesions. Purkinje neurons are the main target of cerebellotoxic agents. The most common toxic agent is ethanol. Cerebellotoxic drugs include antiepileptics, antineoplastics, lithium salts, and heroin. Regarding environmental factors, chronic exposure to heavy metals, benzene derivatives, and hyperthermia cause a cerebellar syndrome. Recently, deposits of gadolinium (Gd), a heavy metal of the lanthanide group, have been described mainly in dentate nuclei and globus pallidus following repeated administration of linear Gd-based contrast agents (GBCAs). Both the mechanism of these deposits and their clinical consequences are unknown. Cerebellotoxicity should be listed in the differential diagnosis of cerebellar ataxia of unknown origin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité des Ataxies Cérébelleuses, CHU-Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium

    Alexandra Bakolas & Mario Manto

  2. Service des Neurosciences, Université de Mons, Mons, Belgium

    Mario Manto

Authors
  1. Alexandra Bakolas
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  2. Mario Manto
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Correspondence to Mario Manto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Department, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Donna L. Gruol

  2. Department of Integrative Physiology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Noriyuki Koibuchi

  3. Service de Neurologie, CHU-Charleroi, Charleroi, Belgium

    Mario Manto

  4. Clinical Translational Research, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy

    Marco Molinari

  5. Ataxia Center, Cognitive Behavioral Neurology Unit, Laboratory for Neuroanatomy and Cerebellar Neurobiology, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Jeremy D. Schmahmann

  6. Department of Physiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzho, China

    Ying Shen

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Bakolas, A., Manto, M. (2023). Toxic Agents. In: Gruol, D.L., Koibuchi, N., Manto, M., Molinari, M., Schmahmann, J.D., Shen, Y. (eds) Essentials of Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15070-8_90

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