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Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, one of those chemicals that is responsible for transmitting signals in between the nerve cells (neurons) of the brain. Very few neurons actually make dopamine. Some, in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra, are the cells that die during Parkinsons disease. The functions of others, located in a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), are less well defined and are the major source of the aforementioned controversy (and the focus of this post). When dopamine neurons become activated, they release dopamine.
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Approximately one million people in the U.S. have Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disord ...Written By: Cassidy ReichFEB 16, 2016Neuroscience
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AUG 16, 2016
Immunology
Your stomach growls and you think, “it’s telling me that it’s time for lunch.” However, it&rsquo
...
Written By:
Kara Marker
AUG 16, 2016
Neuroscience
Mental illness is a term used to describe disorders like depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. They are mental because
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
AUG 01, 2016
Neuroscience
When brain tissue is damaged by injury or disease, it’s irreplaceable. Unlike organ transplants or bone and skin g
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
JUL 28, 2016
Clinical & Molecular DX
It’s rare that a drug can be FDA-approved to treat a condition without a known mechanism behind the drug’s a
...
JUL 23, 2016
Health & Medicine
You have probably heard of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzhe
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
JUL 22, 2016
Cancer
Nausea and vomiting are among the most common adverse side effects of chemotherapy. In fact, some drugs induce such seve
...
JUL 20, 2016
Neuroscience
Parkinson’s disease (PD) can be devastating, to those who have it, and to those that care for them. The progress o
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
JUN 12, 2016
Neuroscience
Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, currently affecting ~ 1 million people in
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
APR 30, 2016
Videos
How does music affect your brain? Let's start with the obvious: Your brain loves it! Hence, why you feel so good when yo
...
Written By:
Julianne Chiaet
APR 30, 2016
Videos
The feelings of attraction may seem magical, but they're actually very real and scientific. Whether or not you are attra
...
Written By:
Julianne Chiaet
APR 29, 2016
Genetics & Genomics
New research with mice offers more evidence of a complex interaction between genes and the environment when it comes to
...
Written By:
Futurity (futurity.org)
APR 11, 2016
Neuroscience
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that can devastate the muscles in the body. It’s pro
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
APR 09, 2016
Health & Medicine
A few months ago, my fellow Labroots writer Brenda Kelley Kim did a nice piece on this paper from a group at Western Uni
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
APR 05, 2016
Videos
ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactive disorder, has been long diagnosed as a psychiatric disorder. It's found commonly
...
Written By:
Anthony Bouchard
MAR 19, 2016
Health & Medicine
I write about depression and mood disorders pretty frequently on LabRoots and that is because it is an issue I am truly
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
MAR 10, 2016
Infographics
Childhood schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder which causes children to interpret reality abnormally. This type of m
...
Written By:
Jennifer Ellis
MAR 07, 2016
Videos
LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is a powerful hallucinogenic. It was first synthesized in 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert
...
Written By:
Julianne Chiaet
MAR 01, 2016
Neuroscience
The vast network of neurons, dendrites, axons and other hardware that is responsible for sending messages all over the b
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
FEB 19, 2016
Neuroscience
Approximately one million people in the U.S. have Parkinson’s Disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disord
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
FEB 16, 2016
Neuroscience
Resilience and susceptibility to depression are a complex mix of many factors. Understanding why some individuals are re
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
FEB 05, 2016
Health & Medicine
Depression affects millions of Americans and many of those people are taking some kind of medication. Selective se
...
Written By:
Cassidy Reich
FEB 03, 2016
Neuroscience
There’s complicated science involved in making a casino difficult to leave. There are never any windows to distrac
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
JAN 14, 2016
Cannabis Sciences
Scientists have known for a while that marijuana definitely affects brain chemistry, function and structure. Studies hav
...
Written By:
Brenda Kelley Kim
JAN 13, 2016
Neuroscience
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered that a lipid (fat molecule) in brain cells may act a
...
Written By:
The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI)