News tagged with dopamine
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 |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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Chemical from Soil Bacteria Shows Potential Neuron Toxicity; Has Possible Parkinson's Implications
(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 ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 06, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (6) |
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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 |
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Binge eaters' dopamine levels spike at sight, smell of food
(PhysOrg.com) -- A brain imaging study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory reveals a subtle difference between ordinary obese subjects and those who compulsively overeat, ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Feb 28, 2011 |
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Brain's 'reward' center also responds to bad experiences
The so-called reward center of the brain may need a new name, say scientists who have shown it responds to good and bad experiences. The finding, published in PLoS One, may help explain the "thrill" of thr ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 22, 2011 |
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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) |
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Neurological protein may hold the key to new treatments for depression
Neuroscientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have developed a protein peptide that may be a novel type of highly targeted treatment for depression with a low side-effect profile. Depression affects ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 29, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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Scientists report molecular structure of dopamine receptor
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved the structure of one of the receptors that responds to the neurotransmitter dopamine. Although dopamine transmission is essential to normal brain functioning, ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Nov 18, 2010 |
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Gene linked to ADHD allows memory task to be interrupted by brain regions tied to daydreaming
Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) say brain scans show that a gene nominally linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) leads to increased interference by brain regions associated ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 16, 2010 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
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NRL scientists unravel complex quantum dot-dopamine interactions
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in conjunction with the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Ca., recently reported a detailed study of the interactions of water soluble semi-conductor ...
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 15, 2010 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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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 |
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A thirst for excitement is hidden in your genes
Sensation seeking -- the urge to do exciting things -- has been linked to dopamine, a chemical that carries messages in your brain. For a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psycho ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 05, 2010 |
4 / 5 (3) |
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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.
