Dopamine
Updated onBenjamin Clanner-Engelshofen is a freelance writer in the medical department. He studied biochemistry and pharmacy in Munich and Cambridge / Boston (USA) and noticed early on that he particularly enjoyed the interface between medicine and science. That is why he went on to study human medicine.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.The active ingredient dopamine belongs to the group of catecholamines and is used therapeutically for states of shock. It also occurs naturally in the body as a neurotransmitter. Dopamine conveys motivational and drive-increasing effects. If the levels are too low or too high, Parkinson-like or mania-like symptoms can occur. Here you can read everything you need to know about dopamine: use, effects and side effects.
This is how dopamine works
Effects of dopamine in the central nervous system
Dopamine is used in the brain to communicate between nerve cells, so it is a neurotransmitter. In certain “circuits” it conveys positive emotional experiences (“reward effect”), which is why it - like serotonin - is considered a happiness hormone. Compared to serotonin, dopamine has more of a long-term effect of increasing motivation and promoting drive.
One of the diseases in which there is a lack of dopamine in the central nervous system (CNS) is Parkinson's disease. Typical Parkinson's symptoms include stiff muscles (rigidity), tremors (tremor) and a slowdown in movements to the point of immobility (akinesia). Treatment with dopamine can help with these symptoms.
However, since the active ingredient is not able to cross the blood-brain barrier, it cannot be administered directly in order to compensate for the deficiency in the brain. Instead, a precursor (L-DOPA) and analogues (dopamine agonists) of the messenger substance are administered, which can reach the site of action in the brain.
In schizophrenic or other psychotic patients, the dopamine concentration is usually increased in certain brain regions. Here inhibitors of the messenger substance (dopamine antagonists) are used. They are among the antipsychotics.
Dopamine can increase blood flow to certain parts of the body (such as the kidneys). It is therefore used for shock, low blood pressure and kidney failure. This use is on the decline, however, since active substances with less potential for side effects are available, for example adrenaline or noradrenaline.
Breakdown and excretion of dopamine
After injection or infusion, half of the dopamine is broken down and excreted in the urine within five to ten minutes.
When is dopamine used?
Dopamine is not used directly for neurological indications (such as Parkinson's disease). Instead, precursors or analogues thereof are administered because, unlike dopamine, they can cross the blood-brain barrier.
The active ingredient is used to stabilize the circulation in states of shock or threatened states of shock. These can occur, for example, in the following cases:
- Heart failure and heart attack
- severe infections
- sudden, severe drop in blood pressure
This is how dopamine is used
Infusion and injection solutions for intravenous use of dopamine are available. The administration is carried out by a doctor.
L-DOPA as well as dopamine agonists and dopamine antagonists are available in tablet form. The frequency of use and dosage is determined individually by the attending physician.
What are the side effects of dopamine?
The declining use of dopamine is explained by the comparatively high potential for side effects. Injected in shock states it often (i.e. in every tenth to one hundredth patient) to cardiac arrhythmias, headaches, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting as well as either a sharp drop in blood pressure or an excessive increase in blood pressure.
What should be considered when using dopamine?
Contraindications
Dopamine is mainly used in emergency medicine. The attending physician will clarify individually whether a patient may not receive the drug for certain reasons.
Age restriction
If indicated, dopamine can be used from birth. Due to the lack of data, there are no fixed dose recommendations for children.
pregnancy and breast feeding period
Dopamine can be administered in life-threatening conditions during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
How to get drugs with dopamine
Only clinics and doctors can buy dopamine. It cannot be prescribed on a prescription and cannot be obtained in any other form by patients.
The effect of dopamine absorbed through meals (diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables such as bananas, potatoes, avocados and broccoli) is negligible, because the active ingredient becomes ineffective (deactivated) in the intestine shortly after absorption.
How long has dopamine been known?
The first neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain to be discovered was adrenaline (also called epinephrine). Since the body's own production of adrenaline takes place via various intermediate products - including dopamine - scientists initially assumed, after discovering the metabolic pathways, that the intermediate products had no further relevance in the body.
It was not until 1958/59 that scientists Arvid Carlsson, Åke Bertler and Evald Rosengren at the Pharmacological Institute of Lund University (Sweden) discovered that there was a completely different distribution pattern for dopamine than for adrenaline in the brain to assume that dopamine had a completely own importance is to be attached.
Using various experiments, the researchers discovered the greatest dopamine concentration in the corpus striatum, a central region of the brain. Through experiments with the herbal substance reserpine, they were able to prove that the depletion of the dopamine stores in this brain area leads to symptoms similar to Parkinson's.
A short time later, Oleh Hornykiewicz at the University of Vienna was also able to show, through color reactions with extracts from the corpus striatum, that these areas of the brain in Parkinson's patients contain remarkably little dopamine.
In 1970 the scientists Ulf Svante von Euler-Chelpin and Julius Axelrod (involved in the discovery of adrenaline and noradrenaline) received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology “for their discoveries about the chemical transmitters in nerve endings and the mechanism of their storage, release and inactivation ".
In 2000, Arvid Carlsson and other researchers won the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology “for their discoveries about signal translation in the nervous system”.
More interesting facts about dopamine
The communication of nerve cells via messenger substances such as dopamine works as follows: A nerve cell releases a messenger substance at the point of contact with another nerve cell (synapse). This binds to special docking points (receptors) on the other nerve cells and thus transmits a signal. The messenger substance is then taken up again by the original cell, which ends its effect.
Certain drugs such as cocaine are known as dopamine reuptake inhibitors - they can prevent the reuptake of released dopamine into its original cell, which leads to an increased effect of the happiness hormone dopamine.
The brain thus combines drug use with a reward effect, which primarily explains the addictive effect of cocaine and other drugs. After excessive drug use, clinical pictures of a psychosis often emerge.
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