Latest Dopamine Stories

Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Addiction is a serious disorder of the brain that is characterized by a chronic and compulsive need to take a substance, typically with an increase in dosage and frequency. Someone suffering from addiction will continue their behavior even in the face of negative consequences. The root cause of addiction is not specifically known, however. A new study out of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) may just point to one indicator of...

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBIX) announced today that two additional patents have been granted related to the Company's proprietary Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 inhibitor (VMAT2) NBI-98854. European Patent Number 2,081,929 was granted in January 2013 by the European Patent Office with an expiration date of November 2027. This patent covers chemical compositions, pharmaceutical compositions and uses of various compounds...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online New research from the University of Buffalo describes the first ever genomic mechanism for schizophrenia. According to the scientists’ report in the journal Schizophrenia Research, problems with the Integrative Nuclear FGFR 1 Signaling (INFS) pathway during gestation leads to brain changes, ultimately causing behavioral problems, or schizophrenia, later in life. Previous research has shown that the pathway includes as many as 160...

Dr. J Marshall Dent has released an article explaining that weight loss occurs in the brain. The balances of many factors play into successful weight loss and maintenance. Columbia, SC (PRWEB) January 16, 2013 Dr. J. Marshall Dent insists that, "people have been taught for years that controlling weight begins and ends with the stomach." The misconception about dieting is it’s all about creating a better ratio of “calories in versus calories out.” The truth is that weight...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Health experts around the world are talking about a remarkable phenomenon seen in Parkinson’s patients that was first noticed by researchers at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine over the holidays. Professor Rivka Inzelberg said patients she treated at Sheba Medical Center clinic had skipped bringing the usual presents of chocolate, flowers and knick-knacks in over the holiday season and had instead brought in...

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Amarantus BioScience, Inc. (OTCQB: AMBS), a biotechnology company discovering and developing treatments and diagnostics for diseases associated with protein misfolding and apoptosis centered around its patented therapeutic protein Mesencephalic Astrocyte-derived Neurotrophic Factor (MANF), today presented positive preclinical efficacy data for MANF in a neurorestoration 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat model of Parkinson's disease. The...

Penn study suggests dopamine treatments may play role in increasing impulsivity While approximately one in five Parkinson's disease patients experience impulse control disorder symptoms, the disease itself does not increase the risk of gambling, shopping, or other impulsivity symptoms, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. A new study is the first to show in a large sample that people with untreated Parkinson's were no more likely to...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A research team from Inserm has published a new study in the journal Biological Psychology detailing the key role played by a protein, the CB1 cannabinoid receptor, during physical exercise. The team demonstrated, in studies conducted on mice, the location of this receptor - in a part of the brain associated with motivation and reward systems - controls the amount of time for which an individual will carry out voluntary physical...

Connie K. Ho for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A study by brain researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) recently found that a dopamine-receptor gene variant that is related to personality traits can also impact healthy aging. Their findings were published in the January 2 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience. In the paper, the researchers described how the gene variant, known as DRD4 7R allele, is associated with both active personality traits and longer life...

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified two molecules that play an important role in the survival and production of nerve cells in the brain, including nerve cells that produce dopamine. The discovery, which is published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, may be significant in the long term for the treatment of several diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. The same scientists have previously shown that receptors known as "liver X receptors" or LXR, are necessary...