Dopamine Is a Key Neurotransmitter in the Brain?

Question by wildthings63063: Dopamine is a key neurotransmitter in the brain?
Parkinson patients suffer because of a lack of this chemical, while abusers of drugs such as nicotine, cocaine, and meth enjoy an enhancement of dopamine activity. would these drugs be a possible treatment, or even a cure, for parkinson disease? why or why not

Best answer:

Answer by pujalix
Hi its much more complicated than that. there are mnay more neurochems than dopamine in the psychopharmacology of parkinsons and mental illness. Dopamine plays a key role in schizophrenia but there are others like serotonine, GABA, nor adrenaline etc.

Dopamine has been associated with two disorders: a deficiency of DA in the corpus striatum has been found in Parkinson’s patients; an excess of DA in limbic forebrain may be involved in schizophrenia.

DA and amphetamine are structurally similar and amphetamine displaces DA from synaptic vesicles.

In humans, amphetamine causes amphetamine psychosis which is similar, but not identical to, paranoid schizophrenia . Therefore amphetamine psychosis may be a model of paranoid schizophrenia.

Chlorpromazine (CPZ) is a drug used to treat schizophrenia and amphetamine psychosis. CPZ blocks DA’s access to postsynaptic receptor sites.

An animal model of schizophrenia has been developed. This involves injecting animals, usually rats, with amphetamine. The drug produces an increase in locomotion and an increase in so-called stereotyped behaviour. A behaviour is said to be stereotyped when it is is repeated in an apparently meaningless fashion.

Answer by V
Dopamine is found in the brain already, and is released into the bloogstream by taking these drugs, doing physical activity, and through other methods. If dopamine were not already present in a Parkinson patient, there would be no dopamine released. Therefore, this could not be a cure but only make the patient in a worse condition.