HIV/AIDS and Antiretroviral Therapy Practice Test

Tardive dyskinesia arises after long-term blockade of dopamine D2 receptors, which makes those receptors in the striatum hypersensitive. To improve TD symptoms, treatments aim to reduce dopamine signaling in that pathway. Blocking dopamine receptors or lowering dopamine availability in the nigrostriatal pathway counteracts the receptor hypersensitivity that drives the involuntary movements, so antagonism in dopaminergic pathways is the mechanism that best describes how TD is treated.

On the other hand, increasing dopaminergic transmission would tend to worsen TD, while changing serotonin signaling or directly stimulating GABA does not address the core dopaminergic imbalance that underlies TD treatment.