Related topics: brain
Dopamine
hideDopamine is a neurotransmitter occurring in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the brain, this phenethylamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five types of dopamine receptors — D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5, and their variants. Dopamine is produced in several areas of the brain, including the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area. Dopamine is also a neurohormone released by the hypothalamus. Its main function as a hormone is to inhibit the release of prolactin from the anterior lobe of the pituitary.
Dopamine can be supplied as a medication that acts on the sympathetic nervous system, producing effects such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. However, because dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, dopamine given as a drug does not directly affect the central nervous system. To increase the amount of dopamine in the brains of patients with diseases such as Parkinson's disease and dopa-responsive dystonia, L-DOPA (levodopa), which is the precursor of dopamine, can be given because it can cross the blood-brain barrier.
For more information about Dopamine, read the full article at
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News tagged with dopamine
Easily led 'ash-tray': Adolescent smokers prone to drug abuse
Dec 11, 2009 |
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It is common knowledge that smoking is a health risk but why do teens become addicted to smoking more easily than adults? In an evaluation for Faculty of 1000 Biology, Neil Grunberg looks into why adolescents are more prone ...
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Glutamate can play key role in drug impact on brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Addiction disorders of various kinds are a major health and social problem, and our knowledge of how the brain’s reward system functions needs to be enhanced. Uppsala researchers now shows an unexpected effect ...
RXR activation -- hope for new Parkinson's disease treatment
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 11, 2009 |
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Following up on their previous work showing the rescue of dopamine neurons by chemicals that interact with the retinoid X receptor (RXR), researchers have now investigated the potential of these chemicals, known as RXR ligands, ...
Irregular arm swing may point to Parkinson's disease
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Irregular arm swings while walking could be an early sign of Parkinson's disease, according to neurologists who believe early detection may help physicians apply treatments to slow further brain cell damage until strategies ...
Brain scans show distinctive patterns in people with generalized anxiety disorder
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Scrambled connections between the part of the brain that processes fear and emotion and other brain regions could be the hallmark of a common anxiety disorder, according to a new study from the Stanford University School ...
The buzz on fruit flies: New role in the search for addiction treatments
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Fruit flies may seem like unlikely heroes in the battle against drug abuse, but new research suggests that these insects — already used to study dozens of human disease — could claim that role. Scientists ...
Research shows power of FRET-based approach for distinguishing among distinct states of proteins
Nov 30, 2009 |
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In the December 2009 issue of the Journal of General Physiology, Moss et al. report a comprehensive investigation employing Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) to study the {gamma}-amino acid (GABA) transporter GAT1, ...
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