what is dopamine? in relation to the human brain and stimulation?
Question by kwaku a: what is dopamine? in relation to the human brain and stimulation?
does it have any relation to Pheromones?
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2 Responses to what is dopamine? in relation to the human brain and stimulation?
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In the brain, dopamine is a neurotransmitter and a neurohormone.
It is best known as the neurotransmitter (a substance released from one neuron that activates its neighbor neurons with proper receptors) in the substantia nigra of the brain which, when depleted, leads to Parkinson’s disease.
It’s deficiency in other regions is associated with depression. One popular antidepressant, Wellbutrin, boosts the levels of dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine levels in the brain are also associated with craving. Zyban, which contains the same ingredient as Wellbutrin (buproprion) and also boosts brain levels of dopamine, reduces cigarette addiction.
As a neurohormone (a substance released by a neuron into the blood to affect a non-neighboring tissue), it is released by the hypothalamus and affects prolactinn secretion by the anterior pituitary. Prolactin is an important hormone for supporting nursing mothers and lactation.
Dopamine can be given as a drug to improve the strength of cardiac contraction and raise blood pressure. But it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and get into the brain as dopamine. It’s precursor in synthesis, di.hydroxy.phenyl.alanine, or DOPA, a derivative of the amino acid tyrosine, *can* get into the brain, and is thus used as treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
Dopamine is not known to be a pheremone, but in lower animals, such as honey bees, other substances which have pheremonic activity can modify dopamine levels: http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/pnas;104/7/2460
Yaybob
April 29, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Dopamine is a hormone and neurotransmitter occurring in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In chemical structure, it is a phenethylamine.
A pheromone is a chemical that triggers a natural behavioral response in another member of the same species. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many others that affect behavior or physiology. Their use among insects has been particularly well documented, although many vertebrates and plants also communicate using pheromones.
gangadharan_nair
April 29, 2013 at 2:11 pm