Dopamine is associated with pleasure and rewards portion of the brain. It’s a neurotransmitter that plays a vital role in the brain’s reward and pleasure pathways, as well as in various other cognitive and motor functions. It’s the reason why we feel pleasure when we do things that are valuable to us.
Many medical professionals have long believed that dopamine receptors in the brain are completely devoted to this rewards mechanism but current research indicates that some dopamine receptors are also associated with movement within the body. They have hypothesized that this is one of the reasons why there is a link between Parkinson’s disease and the body’s inability to properly process dopamine.
Working with mice, researchers found that there was at least one genetic subtype of dopamine that does not have anything to do with rewards or pleasure at all but is solely devoted to movement. Rewards do not impact this type of dopamine neuron in any way. Rather, it is tied to movement. This type of neuron was activated when the mouse moved faster. Treats and other rewards did not seem to impact the neuron.
Dopamine shapes emotions, reward, learning, and motor functions in the brain. It acts as a messenger, transmitting signals between neurons to regulate mood, motivation, and pleasure. Dopamine’s impact on the brain is extensive, influencing diverse functions such as learning, attention, decision-making, and movement coordination. Imbalances in dopamine levels have been linked to various neurological and psychiatric disorders, including ADHD, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and addiction. It helps to shape our emotional experiences and behaviors, making it a crucial component of the intricate circuitry that’s behind all human cognition and behavior.
This research comes from Northwestern University. They published their results in the journal, Nature Neuroscience. And while the study was conducted on mouse models, it reveals a lot of information that has the potential to be helpful for treating human beings that have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease or other disorders that see impacted dopamine levels. Hopefully, this research can be built upon and lead to better, more effective treatment methods for the people that are most impacted.
Parkinson’s is scary, but it’s not the only difficulty that a senior might face. When someone is dealing with a disease or disability, senior care can become much more necessary. Unfortunately, these things can become more and more likely as someone ages. They can also become needed quite quickly as some conditions can seem to happen in just an instant. It’s helpful to have a plan in place long before senior care is needed so that you won’t have to go through the search process when things are serious. It will allow you to focus on finding the right care rather than just finding what’s available.
We can help guide you through this if you’d like. Senior care is what we do. If you have questions about care or how it might benefit your family, get in touch. We’d be happy to talk more. We offer a free consultation session designed to answer your questions and help get you pointed in the right direction.
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