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
1 sleepless night increases dopamine in the human brain
Aug 19, 2008 |
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Just one night without sleep can increase the amount of the chemical dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Because drugs that increase dopami ...
Why dopamine freezes parkinson patients and drives drug addicts
Aug 08, 2008 |
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Parkinson's disease and drug addiction are polar opposite diseases, but both depend upon dopamine in the brain. Parkinson's patients don't have enough of it; drug addicts get too much of it. Although the importance of dopamine ...
Cognitive training can alter the biochemistry of the brain
Feb 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown for the first time that the active training of the working memory brings about visible changes in the number of dopamine receptors ...
Protein on 'speed' linked to ADHD
Jul 08, 2008 |
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A genetic change in the dopamine transporter – one of the brain's dopamine-handling proteins – makes it behave as if amphetamine is present and "run backward," Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators report this ...
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.
Obesity predisposition traced to the brain's reward system
Jul 29, 2008 |
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The tendency toward obesity is directly related to the brain system that is involved in food reward and addictive behaviors, according to a new study. Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and colleagues ...
Back to (brain) basics
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In his own words, MIT neuroscientist Mark Bear admits he did not "wake up one day and say 'Hey, I'm going to cure autism.'" But, after decades of painstaking basic research on how the brain ...
Brain works best when cells keep right rhythms
Apr 26, 2009 |
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It is said that each of us marches to the beat of a different drum, but new Stanford University research suggests that brain cells need to follow specific rhythms that must be kept for proper brain functioning. These rhythms ...
Scientists seek to manage dopamine's good and bad sides
Oct 07, 2009 |
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The good, the bad and the ugly: That's a quick summary of the effects of dopamine, a natural brain chemical that's linked to pleasure, addiction and disease.
Thin line between desire and dread: Dopamine controls both
Jul 07, 2008 |
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The chemical dopamine induces both desire and dread in adjacent regions of the brain, according to new research at the University of Michigan.
Chemical from Soil Bacteria Shows Potential Neuron Toxicity; Has Possible Parkinson's Implications
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A chemical produced by common soil bacteria may kill neurons that produce dopamine, according to an article authored by University of Alabama researchers publishing Oct. 6. Dopamine neuron demise leads to ...
Surgical technique halts cell loss, Parkinson's researchers find
Sep 02, 2008 |
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Deep brain stimulation, a surgical technique often viewed as a last resort for people with Parkinson's disease, halts the progression of dopamine-cell loss in animal models, according to preliminary research by scientists ...
Dementia induced and blocked in Parkinson's fly model
Aug 01, 2009 |
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Parkinson's disease is well-known for impairing movement and causing tremors, but many patients also develop other serious problems, including sleep disturbances and significant losses in cognitive function known as dementia.
New findings bring hope for possible Parkinson's disease cure
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Researchers at Iowa State University have found an essential key to possibly cure Parkinson's disease and are looking for others.
Risk takers, drug abusers driven by decreased ability to process dopamine
Dec 30, 2008 |
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For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year's resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these ...
