A longstanding hypothesis in neurobiology was that a single neuron releases a single type of neurotransmitter, a molecule used by neurons to communicate with one another. In recent decades, several neurons have been found ...
Nov 28, 2023
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Ahab hunting down Moby Dick. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner. Learning Latin. Walking over hot coals. Standing in a long line for boba tea or entrance to a small, overpriced clothing retail store. Forking up for luxury ...
Nov 27, 2023
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A study published in Progress in Neurobiology and led by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, has developed an improved method to study Parkinson's disease in the lab. Along the way, researchers ...
Nov 16, 2023
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In a new study, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shed new light on key cellular processes involved in the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). The research is published in the journal ...
Nov 14, 2023
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Results from a new clinical trial suggest that a group of brain regions known as the "salience network" is activated after a drug is taken intravenously, but not when that same drug is taken orally.
Nov 8, 2023
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A new study published in Cell is reshaping our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the brain, the proteins that are present at synapses. Titled "The proteomic landscape of synaptic diversity across brain regions ...
Nov 1, 2023
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In a new study, a group of researchers led by Dr. Joshua Goldberg from the Hebrew University describe a new kind of neurochemical wave in the brain. Their research, published in Nature Communications, unveils the existence ...
Oct 30, 2023
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A team of biomedical researchers at the University of Oxford's Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior has discovered how dopaminergic systems in fruit flies can instill reward-seeking behaviors despite adverse consequences.
Researchers report October 25 in the journal Neuron that cocaine addiction disrupts the dopamine neurons that govern how we perceive and learn from rewards. Though people with cocaine addiction have similar expectations of ...
Oct 25, 2023
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In Parkinson's disease, the cerebral cortex can take over tasks from a deeper part of the brain that has been damaged, where cells that make dopamine have been lost. The strength of compensation by the cerebral cortex determines ...
Sep 28, 2023
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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.
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