Paul Greengard: Signals underlying moods, addictions, and brain disorders - PubMed
- ️Sat Jan 01 2011
Paul Greengard: Signals underlying moods, addictions, and brain disorders
Sandeep Ravindran. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011.
No abstract available
Figures

Dopamine release and binding to receptor. Dopamine is released by a neuron into the junction between two nerve cells called the synapse. There, it can bind to dopamine receptors on neighboring neurons, and the receptors activate the second messenger and downstream signaling pathways.

Dopamine receptor availability in the brain. Brain images show a decrease in the available dopamine receptors in the brain of a person addicted to cocaine compared with a nondrug user. A similar decrease is seen with many other addictive substances, including alcohol and heroin. The lower level of receptors is thought to occur because of their repeated overstimulation, and it can lead to a reduced activation of natural reward pathways that contributes to the tendency to abuse these addictive substances. Adapted from Volkow et al. (9).

Dopamine signals through a cAMP second messenger. After dopamine binds to its receptor, the receptor then triggers the activation of an adenylate cyclase enzyme, which produces cAMP ATP. cAMP acts as a second messenger that transmits a signal from the receptor to other proteins within the cell by binding to them and altering their activity. After dopamine increases the level of cAMP in nerve cells, the cAMP activates a kinase that adds phosphate groups to other proteins in the cell in a process known as phosphorylation. Phosphorylation of these other proteins triggers downstream signaling pathways.
Similar articles
-
Neurotransmitters, receptors, and second messengers galore in 40 years.
Snyder SH. Snyder SH. J Neurosci. 2009 Oct 14;29(41):12717-21. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3670-09.2009. J Neurosci. 2009. PMID: 19828781 Free PMC article.
-
Addiction: brain mechanisms and their treatment implications.
Nutt DJ. Nutt DJ. Lancet. 1996 Jan 6;347(8993):31-6. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(96)91561-5. Lancet. 1996. PMID: 8531549 Review. No abstract available.
-
Alexander Rudolf Cools (1942-2013).
Ellenbroek BA, Homberg J, Verheij M, Spooren W, van den Bos R, Martens G. Ellenbroek BA, et al. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2014 Jun;231(11):2219-22. doi: 10.1007/s00213-014-3583-5. Epub 2014 Apr 26. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2014. PMID: 24770629 No abstract available.
-
From 'soup physiology' to normal brain science.
Krnjević K. Krnjević K. J Physiol. 2005 Nov 15;569(Pt 1):1-2. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2005.096883. Epub 2005 Aug 25. J Physiol. 2005. PMID: 16123100 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
-
Could a common biochemical mechanism underlie addictions?
Betz C, Mihalic D, Pinto ME, Raffa RB. Betz C, et al. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2000 Feb;25(1):11-20. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2710.2000.00260.x. J Clin Pharm Ther. 2000. PMID: 10771460 Review.
Cited by
-
Regulating the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway via cAMP-signaling: neuroprotective potential.
Huang H, Wang H, Figueiredo-Pereira ME. Huang H, et al. Cell Biochem Biophys. 2013 Sep;67(1):55-66. doi: 10.1007/s12013-013-9628-2. Cell Biochem Biophys. 2013. PMID: 23686612 Free PMC article. Review.
References
-
- Carlsson A, Lindqvist M, Magnusson T. 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine and 5-hydroxytryptophan as reserpine antagonists. Nature. 1957;180:1200. - PubMed
-
- Carlsson A, Lindqvist M, Magnusson T, Waldeck B. On the presence of 3-hydroxytyramine in brain. Science. 1958;127:471. - PubMed
-
- Hornykiewicz O. A brief history of levodopa. J Neurol. 2010;257(Suppl 2):S249–S252. - PubMed
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical