What Is Dopamine?
By LAMSA
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1 minute
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (NT) mainly secreted in a region of the brain called Nucleus Accumbens.
The Nucleus Accumbens (NA) constitutes with the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA)-another brain region-the reward circuit. The NA controls our sensation of pleasure and our motivations.
Dopamine is implicated in drugs’ user behavior
What happens in case of drugs consumption?
The frequent use of drugs increases the amount of dopamine, the NT responsible of pleasure, in the Nucleus Accumbens. Consequently, the drugs’ user will repeat his behavior (consuming drugs), to satisfy himself and get rewarded (reward-seeking behavior).
Dopamine is implicated in Parkinson disease and Schizophrenia
But dopamine is also secreted by a small number of neurons in other regions of the brain, and is implicated in some diseases:
- Parkinson disease: characterized by the destruction of some of neurons controlling body movements and consequently a lack of dopamine. This phenomenon is behind the characteristic trembling of Parkinson Disease
- Schizophrenia: characterized by the secretion of too much dopamine in some regions of the brain
