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Antibiotics: A new understanding of sulfonamide nervous system side effects

Since the discovery of Prontosil in 1932, sulfonamide antibiotics have been used to combat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections, from acne to chlamydia and pneumonia. However, their side effects can include serious neurological ...

Medical research created May 23, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Finding a family for a pair of orphan receptors in the brain

Researchers at Emory University have identified a protein that stimulates a pair of "orphan receptors" found in the brain, solving a long-standing biological puzzle and possibly leading to future treatments for neurological ...

Medical research created May 21, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The brain on drugs: Defining the neural anatomy and physiology of morphine on dopamine neurons

(Medical Xpress) -- Morphine's analgesic properties are as potent as its addictive potential are problematic. The neural pathway for that addiction is typically associated with dopamine (DA) neurons of the ...

Neuroscience created Oct 04, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

Restless legs syndrome, insomnia and brain chemistry: A tangled mystery solved?

Johns Hopkins researchers believe they may have discovered an explanation for the sleepless nights associated with restless legs syndrome (RLS), a symptom that persists even when the disruptive, overwhelming nocturnal urge ...

Neuroscience created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Morphine and cocaine affect reward sensation differently

(Medical Xpress)—A new study by scientists in the US has found that the opiate morphine and the stimulant cocaine act on the reward centers in the brain in different ways, contradicting previous theories ...

Medical research created Oct 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Mouse research links adolescent stress and severe adult mental illness

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have established a link between elevated levels of a stress hormone in adolescence—a critical time for brain development—and genetic changes that, in young adulthood, cause ...

Neuroscience created Jan 17, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

In the insect brain, dopamine-releasing nerve cells are crucial to the formation of both punished, rewarded memories

Children quickly learn to avoid negative situations and seek positive ones. But humans are not the only species capable of remembering positive and negative events; even the small brain of a fruit fly has ...

Genetics created Jul 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists induce, relieve depression symptoms in mice with light

Among those who suffer from depression, the dual inabilities to experience enjoyment in things once pleasurable and to physically motivate oneself—to meet challenges, or even to get out of bed in the morning—have been ...

Neuroscience created Dec 12, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Differences in dopamine may determine how hard people work

Whether someone is a "go-getter" or a "slacker" may depend on individual differences in the brain chemical dopamine, according to new research in the May 2 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest that d ...

Medical research created May 01, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (13) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Taste of beer, without effect from alcohol, triggers dopamine release in the brain

The taste of beer, without any effect from alcohol itself, can trigger dopamine release in the brain, which is associated with drinking and other drugs of abuse, according to Indiana University School of Medicine ...

Neuroscience created Apr 15, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Parkinson's disease: Study of live human neurons reveals the disease's genetic origins

Parkinson's disease researchers at the University at Buffalo have discovered how mutations in the parkin gene cause the disease, which afflicts at least 500,000 Americans and for which there is no cure.

Parkinson's & Movement disorders created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

ADHD medicine affects the brain's reward system

(Medical Xpress)—A group of scientists from the University of Copenhagen has created a model that shows how some types of ADHD medicine influence the brain's reward system. The model makes it possible to ...

Neuroscience created Nov 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study reveals promising new target for Parkinson's disease therapies

With a new insight into a model of Parkinson's disease, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have identified a novel target for mitigating some of the disease's toll on the brain.

Parkinson's & Movement disorders created Jan 19, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Drinking alcohol shrinks critical brain regions in genetically vulnerable mice

Brain scans of two strains of mice imbibing significant quantities of alcohol reveal serious shrinkage in some brain regions - but only in mice lacking a particular type of receptor for dopamine, the brain's "reward" chemical. ...

Medical research created Feb 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Dopamine not about pleasure (anymore)

(Medical Xpress)—To John Salamone, professor of psychology and longtime researcher of the brain chemical dopamine, scientific research can be very slow-moving.

Neuroscience created Dec 03, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

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.