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Patients suffering REM sleep behaviour disorders dream nightmares in which they are attacked and pursued, with the particularity that they express them by screaming, crying, punching and kicking while sleeping. Lancet Neurology has published the third consecutive work in five years about the relationship between this disorder and Parkinson’s disease. The first work showed in 2006 that 45% of patients who suffer this sleep disorder develop Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases caused by a lack of dopamine in the brain. The second article discovered that neuroimaging tests that measure dopamine in the brain, such as the brain SPECT, are...

The neurotransmitter dopamine is best known for its roles in the brain – in signaling pathways that control movement, motivation, reward, learning and memory. Now, Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have demonstrated that dopamine produced outside the brain – in the kidneys – is important for renal function, blood pressure regulation and life span. Their studies, published in the July Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that the kidney-specific dopamine system may be a therapeutic target for treating hypertension and kidney diseases such as diabetic nephropathy. Previous studies had suggested a role for dopamine in regulating kidney function and total body...

A study of the salamander brain has led researchers at Karolinska Institutet to discover a hitherto unknown function of the neurotransmitter dopamine. In an article published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell Stem Cell they show how in acting as a kind of switch for stem cells, dopamine controls the formation of new neurons in the adult brain. Their findings may one day contribute to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's. The study was conducted using salamanders which unlike mammals recover fully from a Parkinson's-like condition within a four week period. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterised...

nvestigators Build a Case Linking Chemical DOPAL to Illness In new research from Saint Louis University, investigators have found evidence that a toxin produced by the brain is responsible for the series of cellular events that lead to Parkinson's disease. The study, published in PLoS One, found that the brain toxin DOPAL plays a key role in killing the dopamine neurons which trigger the illness. In earlier research, Saint Louis University investigators found that DOPAL seemed to be responsible for killing healthy dopamine cells, which in turn causes Parkinson disease to develop. Now, research in an animal model gives them...

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year's resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these individuals--labeled as novelty seekers by psychologists--face an uphill battle in keeping their New Year's resolutions due to the way their brains process dopamine. The research reveals that novelty seekers have less of a particular type of dopamine receptor, which may lead them to seek out novel and exciting experiences--such as spending lavishly, taking risks and partying like there's no tomorrow.

Almost anything can be considered colloquially 'addictive' if you like it enough - computer games, Reese's Peant Butter Cups, reading Scientific Blogging articles and the best science blogs on the planet. Clinical addiction is another issue, though, and Princeton University Professor Bart Hoebel and his team in the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute say they have evidence that sugar can be an addictive substance, wielding its power over the brains of lab animals in a manner similar to many drugs of abuse. So now sugar addiction can overtake "I have a thyroid condition" as the number one...

Australian scientists have discovered that stem cells found in the back of a patient's nose can produce the chemical which is missing in people with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease occurs when the brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine stop working.  Without dopamine, nerve cells cannot function, leading to muscle problems. Researchers from Griffith University and the University of Queensland harvested adult stem cells from the noses of Parkinson's disease patients.  They found that once the nose cells were cultured and infused into animals with Parkinson's disease, the cells began to produce dopamine.  Professor Peter Silburn from the University of...

Some Question Unusual Side Effects Of Dopamine Agonists (CBS) CHICAGO A new group of drugs called dopamine agonists are offering help to some people with Parkinson's disease and restless leg syndrome. But as CBS 2 Medical Editor Mary Ann Childers reports, complaints of unusual side effects have some questioning if this is a risky remedy. Barbara Hermansen suffered from chronic insomnia caused by restless leg syndrome until her doctor prescribed a drug called Permax. It helped her sleep like a baby, but she says five years later, it turned her life into a nightmare. "Gambling was always in my brain,"...

The feeling will be familiar to millions at this time of year: a surge of excitement as they find that must-have item in the shops, followed by a sickening sense of let-down shortly afterwards. It may be some relief to discover that scientists know why it happens and can now provide some pointers to avoiding it. The feeling is caused by the release of a specific chemical in the brain, studies have found. Dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure, is released in waves as shoppers first see a product and then consider buying it. But the research shows that it...

Laurie Coots, a marketing executive who flies to meetings in other countries twice a week, spent years trying to conquer sleepless nights and chronic jet lag. But nothing worked, she says, and every day was a struggle to stay awake. "It was debilitating," said Ms. Coots, 46, who is from Los Angeles. "I couldn't give an effective presentation because I was always shaky and nervous from being amped up on caffeine and stimulants." Then she found modafinil, a small white pill that revs up the central nervous system without the jitteriness of caffeine or the addiction and euphoria of amphetamines....