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
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
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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.
Chemical from Soil Bacteria Shows Potential Neuron Toxicity; Has Possible Parkinson's Implications
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 06, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (6) |
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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 ...
Brain works best when cells keep right rhythms
Apr 26, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (7) |
5
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 find emotion-like behaviors, regulated by dopamine, in fruit flies
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 25, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have uncovered evidence of a primitive emotion-like behavior in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Their findings, which may be relevant to the relationship betwee ...
New findings bring hope for possible Parkinson's disease cure
Nov 03, 2009 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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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.
Back to (brain) basics
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 03, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
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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 ...
The Protein for Quick Decision-Makers
Oct 26, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Everyday, people are required to make decisions quickly and flexibly. In a flash, they must weigh up the advantages, disadvantages and possible consequences of their behaviour and coordinate it with the relevant ...
Study supports possible role of urate in slowing Parkinson's disease progression
Oct 12, 2009 |
3 / 5 (2) |
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By examining data from a 20-year-old clinical trial, a research team based at the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (MGH-MIND) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), has found evidence supporting the ...
Scientists seek to manage dopamine's good and bad sides
Oct 07, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
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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.
Learning addiction: Dopamine reinforces drug-associated memories
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 09, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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New research with mice has provided some fascinating insight into how addictive drugs hijack reward signals and influence neural processes associated with learning and memory. The research, published by Cell Press in the ...
Deficits in brain's reward system observed in ADHD patients
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 08, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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A brain-imaging study conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory provides the first definitive evidence that patients suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have ...
Gene therapy found to help patients with Parkinson's
Aug 14, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Jichi Medical University has succeeded in restoring the motor function of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease by injecting their brains with a virus with a built-in gene that has an enzyme to produce dopamine, it ...
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.
Mouse model of Parkinson's reproduces nonmotor symptoms
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 23, 2009 |
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The classic symptoms of Parkinson's disease involve tremor, stiffness and slow movements. Over the last decade, neurologists have been paying greater attention to non-motor symptoms, such as digestive and sleep problems, ...
Cocaine: Perceived as a reward by the brain?
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
May 19, 2009 |
4 / 5 (3) |
5
Cocaine is one of the oldest drugs known to humans, and its abuse has become widespread since the end of the 19th century. At the same time, we know rather little about its effects on the human brain or the mechanisms that ...
