Parkinson's & Movement disorders

How coffee protects against Parkinson's

A specific genetic variation discovered by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden protects against Parkinson's Disease – especially for those who drink a lot of coffee.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

The 'love hormone' may quiet tinnitus

(HealthDay)—People suffering from chronic ringing in the ears—called tinnitus—may find some relief by spraying the hormone oxytocin in their nose, a small initial study by Brazilian researchers suggests.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Antipsychotic drugs work differently than scientists believed

Antipsychotic drugs—used to treat the millions of people in the U.S. with schizophrenia—have lots of unpleasant side effects. The drugs also aren't effective for many people. There is an urgent need to develop better ...

Neuroscience

Alcohol helps the brain remember, says new study

Drinking alcohol primes certain areas of our brain to learn and remember better, says a new study from the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at The University of Texas at Austin.

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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.

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