Too much Dopamine = Compulsive, Addictive Behavior
New research from NorthwesternUniversity's Feinberg
School of Medicine has revealed that dopamine strengthens and weakens the two
primary circuits in the brain that control our behavior. This provides new
insight into why a flood of dopamine can lead to compulsive, addictive behavior
and too little dopamine can leave Parkinson's patients frozen and unable to
move.
Parkinson's
disease and drug addiction are polar opposite diseases, but both depend upon
dopamine in the brain. Parkinson's patients don't have enough of it; drug
addicts get too much of it. Although the importance of dopamine in these
disorders has been well known, the way it works has been a mystery.