High Dopamine Research Paper

The neurotransmitter dopamine is usually affected by addictive substances as well as implicated in disorders such as depression, schizophrenic psychosis, and bipolar. Because of the overlapping in substance abuse disorders and mental health illnesses, this suggests that brain changes in one will create changes in the other. Stress has also been identified as a risk factor for addiction and mental illnesses and is the biological link between these two disorders.

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.

Dopamine is produced in the substantia nigra, as well as in the adrenal glands and is transmitted to the basal ganglia along a connecting neural

Also, a person may have begun walking leaning forward or began moving very slow. Along with the physical symptoms one can feel or family can see, there are problems inside of the body. The body is no longer creating dopamine the way it should be. Dopamine can either be an excitatory or inhibiting hormone, depending on its destination receptor. If dopamine is not created or secreted these receptors will not be used and will result in difficulties because it will not be able to carry out its job (Marieb & Hoehn, 2013).

The major support and refutation of the dopamine hypothesis has come from the examination of dopamine receptors in these regions of the brain. There are two main types of dopamine receptors, D1 and D2. However, within the category of D2 receptors, there are three subtypes, D2, D3, and D4. (5) Through PET scan analysis of dopamine usage in the brain and post-mordum molecular analysis of brain tissue, researcher were able to determine relative levels of dopamine receptors in patients with schizophrenia compared to non-schizophrenics. Overall analysis of dopamine

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.

Dopamine is commonly known as “The Reward Molecule.” It resides in the central nervous system and influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion. More specifically, dopamine is responsible for reward-driven behavior and pleasure seeking. “Every type of reward seeking behavior that has been

Dopamine being a neurotransmitter is being secreted at higher levels in the synapses which is causing over stimulation of cells resulting in such positive symptoms that are all characteristic of schizophrenia.

It is dopamine that is involved in the pleasure centers of the brain where motivation, reward, the experience of pleasure, and motor function take place. Methamphetamine’s ability to release dopamine rapidly in reward regions of the brain produces the euphoric “rush” or “flash” that many users experience. Repeated methamphetamine use can easily lead to addiction—a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use.

For instance, an excess of dopamine can cause schizophrenia and hallucinogenic drugs stimulate dopamine for it's main purpose as well as cocaine or adderall. Too much Dopamine can influence people to seek more adventurous lives, or too little can cause lack of motivation such as people with Parkinson's disease.

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).

Dopamine is a chemical naturally produced in the body. In the brain, dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter, which provides feelings of euphoria and well-being. Endorphins are naturally occurring opioids that activate the dopamine pathway. All addictive substances activate the dopamine pathway. A person takes a drug, be it marijuana or cocaine or even alcohol, activating the same brain circuits as do behaviors linked to survival, such as eating, bonding, and sex. The drug causes a surge in the level of dopamine, which results in feelings of pleasure. The brain remembers this pleasure and wants it repeated. If the brain senses that too much dopamine is being released, it will adapt and inhibit dopamine release in an effort to normalize brain

Aside from functioning as a neurotransmitter, dopamine is also the precursor to noradrenaline in all central and peripheral noradrenergic neurons. Dopamine is made from the precursor Tyrosine which is converted to DOPA by the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase, and DOPA is then converted to dopamine by the enzyme dopa decarboxylase. This enzyme has a much higher activity in comparison to tyrosine hydroxylase so under normal conditions there is little or no endogenous DOPA found in most cells. The first line of treatment for a patient is to replenish their dopamine stores, which have diminished due to loss of dopaminergic neurones.

In the article “Dopamine and Teenage Logic” by Daniel Siegel he states that “Dopamine is a neurotransmitter central in creating our drive for reward” (Source B). This indicates that dopamine is one of the key causes of risk-taking. Teens often take risks because they are focused on the reward they get after they take it, rather than what would actually happen to them during and after they take the risk. There are two significant ways that dopamine affects our brains; increased impulsiveness, and the susceptibility to addiction by the release of dopamine.

Dopamine is an organic molecule that is made up  in the dopaminergic neurons through the expulsion of a carboxyl group from the L-Dopa molecule.