Thread: Relationship between Dopamine and the Nervous System

Hi all,

Doing a science assessment on Parkinson's Disease and I need to know what it affects and how it affects the nervous system. I've found out that Parkinson's disease is triggered by the death of Dopamine cells which help with reward-driven learning. Does anyone know what the relationship between Dopamine and the Nervous System is?

This would really help me,

Thanks

Tim

Hi, I'm no biologist but I've always liked it, so my knowledge isn't of a very high level compared to what yours might be given what you're doing right now,
but I'll tell you what I know about dopamine, which may or may not be extremely basic to you:

it's a neurotransmitter, which means it (is a hormone I think, which) acts between two neurons when the electrical signal reaches the end of one and needs to be passed on to the next one, chemically. I don't know much more about how it works but I think it is one of the hormones that is produced in moments of stress or physical effort, making heart beat faster and lowering reaction time (for reflexes). So to answer your question, I suppose I can say no more than that is part of the path taken by a message.

Hope this takes you a little forward

Oh right, that makes sense! We've been learning about that in class.Thanks for your help,Tim

Several important diseases of the nervous system are associated with dysfunctions of the dopamine system. Parkinson's disease, an age-related degenerative

There are always the links in wikipedia, though I imagine you will already have checked those.

Parkinson's disease

Dopamine

Or perhaps some examples of related research:

Parkinson’s disease: clinical features and diagnosis

Transplantation of embryonic dopmanine neurons for severe Parkinson's disease

Dopamine neurons derived fromembryonic stem cells function in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease

Ok,

Thanks guys!

Tim