Dopamine Research Papers

Of the six most common neurotransmitters, dopamine is probably the one people know the most about. Dopamine is involved in controlling the reward and pleasure system in the brain. It allows us to recognize rewards and helps give us the ability to go after them. Learning, behavior, and cognition are also affected by dopamine levels. As with anything, if you have an imbalance, then bad things can happen. Parkinson’s disease can be caused by low dopamine amounts. People who have low dopamine levels can be addicted to substances easier.

The first key point is the brain and how dopamine may affect important brain function. In chapter one our reading begins with the human brain, walnut-shaped with a weight of 1.3 kilograms. The brain is a network on neurons with infinite number of path for neural signals. The views discuss an experiment using fruit lies have dopamine and how it acts on their brain through dopamine receptor molecules.

Information from the nigra cells passes through the synapses with the aid of a specific hormone, dopamine, which is a significant chemical transmitter in the brain. Because the existence of dopamine is essential to the function of the substania nigra, it is also essential for the various muscular activities controlled by the striatum, such as walking, balance, etc. (16).

Some dopaminergic (i.e., dopamine-releasing) neurons run from the substantia nigra to the corpus striatum; their loss gives rise to the clinical manifestations of Parkinson's Disease (Korczyn 1994); others, involved in the rewarding effects of drugs and natural stimuli, run from the mesencephalon to the nucleunucleus accumbens.

Over the years, experiments have produced evidence to suggest that dopamine plays a role in the development of Schizophrenia (Howes, McCutcheon, & Stone, 2015). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is produced in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental regions of the brain. The belief that dopamine was involved in Schizophrenia arose after multiple studies performed with compounds produced an increase in extracellular concentrations of dopamine (Lieberman, Kane, & Alvir, 1987). The patients that were administered these compounds had similar symptoms to those observed from patients who were diagnosed with Schizophrenia (Lieberman et al., 1987).

Ok, let's talk about BØRNS. I'm actually a bit ashamed. I hadn't discovered him until earlier this year and I'm disappointed in myself. This guy is amazing. His album Dopamine has to be one of my current favorites. For someone who isn't "HUGE" on the scene, he's done a lot. How many artists can say they've toured with Halsey, played Coachella, and had their song in every other commercial. I first heard his song "10,000 Emerald Pools" and later I got into his music. Quickly. "Electric Love" is hard to avoid at this point but that's totally ok. It's a catchy song with a good beat and his voice is in-frickin-credible. That song and "American Money" have very easily become some of my playlist favorites because there's some soul to them. It's not

Evidence has been confirmed that by the use of ADHD medications that the roles of dopamine and noradrenaline play a very important role in ADHD. Researchers have discovered that Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), the main drugs used for ADHD, both tend to increase the amount of dopamine available in the synapses (Newmark & Weil, 2010, p.27). Meanwhile, the science is not clear, mainly because scientists cannot go into a living body and measure the amount of neurotransmitters in the brain synapse. Newmark (2010) reviewed the literature and his most accurate assessment is

The brain reacts to listening to music by releasing dopamine. The dopamine was released when someone was feeling their best(when listening to their favorite music). Researchers also found out that dopamine was released in response to things like food and money, but also things like love, which cannot be touched. The amount of dopamine raised up 9% when someone was listening to the music they liked, so music was found pleasurable because the brain thought it to be a ‘reward’. This is why we enjoy music so much, but we still don’t really understand why the brain does it. Researchers used a large amount of volunteers to see what music does to the brain, but only eight of them showed any physical sign of dopamine being released. These volunteers

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 1% of the population over age 60 [1]. It is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease and is predicted to increase in prevalence as the population ages, imposing a social and economic burden on society [2]. PD is classically characterized by a loss of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and the development of Lewy Bodies within the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) [3]. Neurons originating in the SNpc project to the striatum where they activate D1 or D2 receptors to stimulate the direct or indirect pathway of the basal ganglia, respectively. Activation of the direct pathway by dopamine (DA) results in

Dopamine is one of the organic chemical compounds secreted by the brain. It is mainly produced in areas of the central and peripheral nervous systems, substantial-nigra. It is a neurotransmitter ( ) that is mainly

In the figure above, the proposed mechanism of dopamine (DA) as a placebo mediator is illustrated. After a placebo has been provided to a patient, DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are activated, which leads to the release of DA in the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens, NAcc) and in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Consequently, the PFC activates disease-specific mechanisms, such as opioids for placebo analgesia, dopamine for motor improvement in patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and perhaps serotonin (5-HT), which relieves depressive symptoms.

Research has shown that prominent levels of dopamine may lead to disorders such as, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) Schizophrenia and an early onset of Alzheimer’s. These conditions, if maintained under control and without any additives, like excessive dopamine consumption, may never show up. Therefore, focusing on adolescents and seeing their consumption levels while acknowledging their health risk is pertinent.

Cocaine, on the other hand, has been found to have a profound effect on increased dopamine activity. Kennedy & Hanbauer (1983; cited in Karch, 2007) found a strong correlation between cocaine binding and the inhibition of dopamine uptake, and therefore proposed that dopamine transporters are binding sites for cocaine. Such research, which correlates strong reinforcing properties of cocaine with inhibition of dopamine transporters, suggests that cocaine has a more significant affect upon dopamine, than than it has upon serotonin and noradrenaline. The excessive role of dopamine can explain the high degree of pleasure that users of cocaine experience, as well as depression and cravings, which follow.

The first way that dopamine affects our brains is by increased impulsiveness. Adolescents usually don’t reflect on what they are doing, and instead, do something because of an impulse. In an article titled “Dopamine and Teenage Logic.” Siegel said that “pausing enables us to think about other options beyond the dopamine-driven impulse pounding on our minds.” Impulses can be held back by “cognitive control.” Fibers in the brain work together and “create a space between impulse and action.” By being able

“The overstimulation of this reward system, which normally responds to natural behaviors linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc.), produces euphoric effects in response to psychoactive drugs. This reaction sets in motion a reinforcing pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the rewarding behavior of abusing drugs ”(“Understanding Drug Abuse). Using addictive drugs floods the limbic brain with dopamine, taking it up to as much as five or ten times the normal level. A person with elevated dopamine levels now has a brain that begins to associate the substance with an outside neurochemical reward (“Your Brain on Drugs”). As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. The result is a lessening of dopamine’s impact on the reward circuit, which reduces the abuser’s ability to enjoy the drugs, as well as the events in life that previously brought pleasure. The decrease in normal dopamine levels encourages the addict to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to bring the dopamine function back to normal, except now larger amounts of the drug are required to achieve the same dopamine high, an effect known as tolerance (“Understanding Drug Abuse ). That is what leads to the state of addiction, which leaves the person in a cycle of craving, using, withdrawal, and relapse.