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.

Scott & White conducts DBS research for Parkinson's patients

At Scott & White Memorial Hospital, a multi-disciplinary team of neurosurgeons, neurologists, neurophysiologist, neuropsychologists and a movement disorders specialist are offering hope to some Parkinson's patients with a treatment called Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). DBS involves placing a thin wire that carries electrical currents deep within the brain on Parkinson's patients who are no longer benefitting from medications, and have significant uncontrollable body movements called dyskinesia. Scott & White is also performing research into the effects of DBS on the non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease including "drenching sweats," bladder dysfunction, depression, hallucination, anxiety, and dementia as well as intestinal disorders, loss of sense of smell, and sleep disturbances.

27 Jan 2010

New computational model helps understand how dopamine medications affect non-motor functions

A new brain-based computational model is helping to understand how Parkinson's disease and dopamine medications-used to treat motor symptoms caused by the disease- can affect learning and attention.

21 Jan 2010

Research shows brain abnormalities develop years before Parkinson's symptoms appear

Scientists who have identified brain networks damaged in Parkinson's disease have new evidence that these systems become abnormal a few years before symptoms appear. And what's more, parts of the network appear to respond in a last ditch attempt to rescue the brain.

21 Jan 2010

Brain mechanisms behind compulsive behaviors in Parkinson's disease patients

New research unravels the brain mechanisms that underlie the ability of a standard drug treatment for Parkinson's to elicit compulsive behaviors in some patients with the disease. The study, published by Cell Press in the January 14th issue of the journal Neuron, provides fascinating new insight into the brain mechanisms that underlie a predisposition to behavioral addictions, such as pathological gambling and shopping.

18 Jan 2010

Dopamine replacement therapy causes brain dysfunction in patients with Parkinson disease, study says

People with Parkinson's Disease are more likely to display abnormal social behaviour and make poor decisions in ambiguous circumstances if they are pathological gamblers, according to research in the January issue of the European Journal of Neurology.

18 Jan 2010

New genetic risk factor for Parkinson's disease identified

An international team of doctors and human geneticists has identified a new genetic risk factor for Parkinson's disease. The institutions involved in the study were the Institute of Human Genetics of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technische Universität München, the Neurological Clinic of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU) and the Mitochondrial Research Group of Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

18 Jan 2010

Molecules capable of reversing brain abnormalities in PD identified

Scientists identified several molecules capable of reversing the brain abnormalities of Parkinson's disease (PD), while also uncovering new clues for its origin in a study just published in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms. PD is characterised by abnormal deposits of a brain protein called alpha-synuclein throughout the damaged brain regions, but exactly what they do there is not clear. The fact that their numbers and spreading are associated disease progression has made them, however, a major point of interest in PD research.

18 Jan 2010

Study reveals interaction of genetic and environmental factors in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease

"Our study reveals the interaction of genetic and environmental factors such as dietary habits in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease," explained Dr. Matthias Elstner of the Neurological Clinic of LMU and Helmholtz Zentrum M-nchen, lead author of the study.

18 Jan 2010

MedGenesis Therapeutix enters into license agreement with Amgen

MedGenesis Therapeutix Inc. ("MedGenesis"), a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative treatments for patients with serious central nervous system (CNS) diseases, announced today that it has successfully entered into an agreement with Amgen Inc. ("Amgen"), granting MedGenesis an exclusive, worldwide license for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) protein in CNS and non-CNS indications, subject to the rights of a co-exclusive licensee for CNS indications in certain countries, as further described below.

12 Jan 2010

Reducing DA dosage causes acute withdrawal symptoms in Parkinson's patients

New research has shown that reducing the dosage of dopamine agonist (DA) drugs, a mainstay treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD), sometimes causes acute withdrawal symptoms similar to those reported by cocaine addicts -- including anxiety, panic attacks, depression, sweating, nausea, generalized pain, fatigue, dizziness and drug cravings. These symptoms can be severe, and are not alleviated by other PD medications.

12 Jan 2010

Perturbing DISC1 gene could help researchers treat mental illness, says study

Scientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. Now, new research led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that perturbing this gene during prenatal periods, postnatal periods or both may have different effects in mice, leading to separate types of brain alterations and behaviors with resemblance to schizophrenia or mood disorders.

6 Jan 2010

Citicoline supplements may reduce cravings and increase satiety

The obesity crisis in the United States has now grown to epidemic proportion. And as the list of consequential health conditions and diseases continues to expand as well, there are major movements toward helping Americans lose weight.

5 Jan 2010

DSPA submits lurasidone NDA to the FDA

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. (DSPA), a U.S. subsidiary of Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd. (DSP), submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for lurasidone, an investigational atypical antipsychotic agent for the treatment of schizophrenia. The application, submitted on December 30, 2009, includes data from more than 40 clinical studies involving more than 2,500 lurasidone-treated patients.

4 Jan 2010

Erectile dysfunction linked to RLS in older men

A study in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that erectile dysfunction was more common in older men with restless leg syndrome (RLS) than in those without RLS, and the magnitude of this association increased with a higher frequency of RLS symptoms.

3 Jan 2010

Projects investigating placebo effects in Parkinson's disease receive funds

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research announced funding for two projects investigating the placebo effect in Parkinson's disease.

30 Dec 2009

Grant of $2 million awarded to understand PIGD in Parkinson's disease

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has awarded a total of $2 million to five research teams carrying out clinical studies to refine understanding of postural instability and gait disturbances (PIGD) in Parkinson's disease, and help speed the development of urgently needed treatments.

29 Dec 2009

Grant of $1 million awarded to develop new treatments for dyskinesia

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has awarded $1 million for a clinical study aiming to make a critical step toward the development of new treatments for dyskinesia, the excessive and uncontrollable movements that are a complication of long-term dopamine replacement therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease.

22 Dec 2009

Neurocrine to advance its NBI-98854 VMAT2 Inhibitor into a multiple repeated dose Phase 1 study

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. today announced their highly selective vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor, NBI-98854, will be advanced in clinical development.

21 Dec 2009

Intra-Cellular Therapies announces results of its ITI-007 antipsychotic drug Phase I study

Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. (ITI) announced at a recent conference on neuropsychiatric diseases the results from a recently completed Phase I clinical study demonstrating ITI-007, the Company's lead antipsychotic drug, interacts with important targets in the living human brain. These key targets are critical to drug action in many neuropsychiatric and related disorders.

21 Dec 2009

Study provides new insight on teens’ addiction to drug abuse

It is common knowledge that smoking is a health risk but why do teens become addicted to smoking more easily than adults? In an evaluation for Faculty of 1000 Biology, Neil Grunberg looks into why adolescents are more prone to substance abuse.

14 Dec 2009