Dopamine

noticeable. However, I began to notice an unusual behavior with the schizophrenia patients. They were not cooperating with the psychiatrist when interacting with the doctor. I remembered my professor in neuroscience class, emphasized on dopamine. He stated that the excess dopamine causes schizophrenia. Most of the schizophrenia patients are usually paranoid that someone is going to hurt them, so they find ways to prevent that such as having weapons with them. Also, in the abnormal psychology, I…

Sugar has consisted naturally in fruit for millions of years. The first humans identified fruit as a major food source. Necessary for survival, sugar has a considerable impact on brain function. Modern forms of sugar do not always have a positive impact on the brain. Different kinds of sugar impact the brain and body in very different ways. Negative effects of sugar discussed in this paper refer to added sugar. Natural sugar found in whole foods that is not added during processing is considered…

The affect Parkinson’s disease plays in the body is troubling. It affects nearly one percent of the adult population over sixty years old. Each year in the Untied States, there are sixty thousand new cases alone. Close to one million Americans live with its disabling grip, this is more than the collective number of patients affected by multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease and muscular dystrophy ("Statistics on Parkinson's"). Parkinson’s is a gradual disease that affects the central nervous…

Many medicines taken for chorea symptoms block dopamine receptors or attempt to deplete dopamine. GABAergic drugs are also used as adjunctive therapy. Much like Huntington’s Disease chorea, Parkinson’s disease can not be cured. Treatment for symptoms mostly consist of drugs that can pass the blood-brain barrier and then can convert into dopamine. Patients with Parkinson’s disease have low dopamine in the brain, but straight dopamine can not pass into the brain. Other treatments for…

Exposure to toxins: herbicides and pesticides increases the risk of Parkinson's disease. • Head trauma: illness increases the risk of Parkinson's disease. The main cause of Parkinson's disease is the lack of a substance called Dopamine due to the loss of dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra. Various dysfunctional cellular processes, inflammation and stress can all contribute to cell damage. Environmental triggers such as exposure to certain toxins or environmental factors and…

disorder where the person in question doesn’t have enough dopamine, a chemical that allows communication between the brain and body movements. The disease eliminates dopamine-producing nerve cells within the brain which accounts for problems with sleeping, motivation, thinking and much more. Currently, treatments for the disease include a drug named Levodopa, discovered in the 1960’s, it is ingested as a tablet or capsule and converts into dopamine once inside the body. In more severe cases…

This is my presentation of the effects drugs can have on the brain. Drugs are chemicals that tap into the brains communication system and tamper with the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information, when someone puts these drugs into their body. Different drugs because of their chemical structures work differently, and there are two ways drugs work in the brain, imitating the brains natural chemical messengers, and overstimulating the reward circuit of the brain. When a drug…

also increases the amount of dopamine and noradrenaline, the excessive release of serotonin is the primary mechanism of action. It induces desirable effects that are physical or psychological. However, prolonged MDMA use can disrupt normal serotonergic pathways in the brain by provoking neurotoxicity. Though MDMA affects the action of monoamine transporters, MDMA has a higher affinity to bind to serotonin transporters…

The drug 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), or more commonly known as Ecstasy, is a synthetic drug that can alter a person’s mood or perception. It also is known to produce feelings of increased energy, pleasure, emotional warmth, and distorts sensory and time perception (What is MDMA). Ecstasy was very popular back in the 1970s and 80’s among those who attended nightclubs and all-night dance parties (Skomorowsky). Ecstasy was taken in order to help party goers get more in tune with the…

extra-cellular dopamine levels. The increase, in turn, reduces the backfiring rate of neuronal cells and thus leading to a decline in non-task related activity. Therefore, an increase in dopamine reduces unwanted activity and leads to an increase in attention and reduces one’s distractibility (Agay, Yechiam, Carmel, & Levkovitz, 2010; Volkow et al., 2001). Consequently, the therapeutic doses of MP treat the primary symptom of ADHD, namely deficiency in attention, by increasing the dopamine…