Dopamine News and Research

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Dopamine is a hormone and 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 has many functions in the brain, including important roles in behavior and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, inhibition of prolactin production (involved in lactation), sleep, mood, attention, and learning. Dopaminergic neurons (i.e., neurons whose primary neurotransmitter is dopamine) are present chiefly in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the midbrain, substantia nigra pars compacta, and arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus.

Transplanted dopamine neurons are affected by the Parkinson's disease process

A new groundbreaking study published in Nature Medicine has implications for the future of transplantation and stem cell therapies as a treatment for Parkinson's disease.

7 Apr 2008

Occupational therapists use Wii for Parkinson's study

It's Ingrid Bell's turn at bat. She steps up to the plate, awaiting the pitch. A 70-mph fastball soars toward her. She swings and connects with the ball.

7 Apr 2008

Fetal cells transplanted into the brain to treat Parkinson's may not function long term

Neurons grafted into the brain of a patient with Parkinson's disease fourteen years ago have developed Lewy body pathology, the defining pathology for the disease, according to research by Jeffrey H. Kordower, PhD, and associates and published in the April 6 issue of Nature Medicine.

7 Apr 2008

Aripiprazole has potential for treating alcohol dependence

Aripiprazole is currently approved to treat bipolar disorder as well as schizophrenia. A new study has found that it significantly and dose-dependently increases the sedative effects of alcohol and, to a lesser degree, decreases the euphoric effects of alcohol. Future research will need to examine the beneficial versus the side effects of aripiprazole for treatment of alcohol dependence.

4 Apr 2008

Mouse calls help search for emotion-controlling genes

Scientists have long known that emotions and other personality traits and disorders run together in families.

3 Apr 2008

Stimulant treatment for ADHD does not contribute to substance abuse later in life

Treating children as early as age six or seven with stimulants for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is not likely to increase risk of substance abuse as adults, according to two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

2 Apr 2008

The brain can sense the calories in food, independent of taste

Their finding that the brain's reward system is switched on by this “sixth sense” machinery could have implications for understanding the causes of obesity. For example, the findings suggest why high-fructose corn syrup, widely used as a sweetener in foods, might contribute to obesity.

28 Mar 2008

Therapeutic cloning treats Parkinson's disease in mice

Research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has shown that therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), can be used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice.

25 Mar 2008

Cloned stem cells successful in treating Parkinson's disease

Scientists in the U.S. have had success in treating Parkinson's disease in mice by using cloned stem cells.

24 Mar 2008

New genetic clue to Parkinson's disease

Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University have discovered a gene that could hold the key to developing new treatments for Parkinson's disease – a progressive and often debilitating movement disorder that affects as many as one million Americans.

24 Mar 2008

Smell impairment can precede the development of Parkinson's disease in men

Impaired sense of smell occurs in the earliest stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) and there is mounting evidence that it may precede motor symptoms by several years, although no large-scale studies had confirmed this.

24 Mar 2008

Study shows Parkinson's disease drug dopamine might work in cancer patients

A study published in the March 13 online issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that dopamine, a drug currently used to treat Parkinson's disease and other illnesses, also might work in cancer patients.

14 Mar 2008

Stem cell funding for Parkinson’s disease

The Parkinson's Disease Society (PD) has announced funding of £170k to the University of Bristol for research into how to make stem cells produce dopamine and live longer after they have been transplanted into animals.

4 Mar 2008

Diltiazem reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School have found that diltiazem, a drug used in the treatment of high blood pressure, reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model.

28 Feb 2008

New view of human brainstem

A team of scientists from Princeton University has devised a new experimental technique that produces some of the best functional images ever taken of the human brainstem, the most primitive area of the brain.

28 Feb 2008

New insight into the fundamentals of Parkinson's disease

A single change in a protein may play a role in whether someone develops Parkinson's disease, say University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers writing in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Feb 2008

Risk factors for Parkinson's disease focus of new research

A new study demonstrates that high levels of MAO-B, an enzyme that regulates nerve activity in the brain, cause Parkinson's-like symptoms in mice genetically engineered to overexpress the protein.

20 Feb 2008