News tagged with dopamine
Psychopaths' brains wired to seek rewards, no matter the consequences
The brains of psychopaths appear to be wired to keep seeking a reward at any cost, new research from Vanderbilt University finds. The research uncovers the role of the brain's reward system in psychopathy ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 14, 2010 |
4.9 / 5 (27) |
18
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Ritalin boosts learning by increasing brain plasticity
Doctors treat millions of children with Ritalin every year to improve their ability to focus on tasks, but scientists now report that Ritalin also directly enhances the speed of learning.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Mar 07, 2010 |
4.8 / 5 (25) |
23
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Friendship may have a genetic component
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research suggests groups of friends may have common genetic patterns. Social scientist Professor James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, came to this conclusion after ...
Jan 18, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (14) |
6
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Cognitive training can alter the biochemistry of the brain
(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 ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Feb 06, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (13) |
1
Compound could become important new antidepressant
Chemists at Oregon State University have discovered and synthesized a new compound that in laboratory and animal tests appears to be similar to, but may have advantages over one of the most important antidepressant medications ...
Feb 04, 2010 |
4.9 / 5 (11) |
9
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Creativity linked to mental health
New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity. By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
May 18, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
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Research reveals the biochemical connection between music and emotion
You are in a concert hall, listening to music you love, Ludwig von Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. You are happily awaiting the glorious climax in the fourth movement -- you know it's coming -- when the full orchestra ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jan 19, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (10) |
2
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In Parkinson's disease, brain cells abandon mitochondria
In a study that sheds new light on the causes of Parkinson's disease, researchers report that brain cells in Parkinson's patients abandon their energy-producing machinery, the mitochondria. A shutdown in fuel can have devastating ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Oct 06, 2010 |
5 / 5 (9) |
0
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Researchers testing vaccine to help people quit smoking
In a unique twist to a decades-old health crisis, Michigan State University researchers are testing a new vaccine to help people quit smoking and avoid relapses.
May 21, 2010 |
4.4 / 5 (10) |
0
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Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
(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.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
0
Back to (brain) basics
(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 ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 03, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
0
Brain works best when cells keep right rhythms
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 ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Apr 26, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (7) |
5
Happy extraverts are more creative: study
(PhysOrg.com) -- Outgoing people who are in a good mood are significantly more creative than people who keep themselves to themselves, according to a new study.
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Aug 03, 2010 |
2.9 / 5 (11) |
7
Scientists seek to manage dopamine's good and bad sides
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.
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Oct 07, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
0
Serotonin solves decades-old mystery in Parkinson's disease
Sudden, uncontrolled movements called dyskinesias—a common side effect of treatment for Parkinson’s disease— are a result of excess serotonin cells in transplanted tissue that trick the brain into releasing ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Jun 30, 2010 |
5 / 5 (6) |
1
Dopamine
Dopamine 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
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
