Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that transmit information throughout our brain and body. They transmit nerve signals electrically and chemically between neurons. Neurotransmitters can affect mood, sleep, concentration and weight. The two kinds of neurotransmitters are: inhibitory and excitatory which, respectively, calm and stimulate the brain. Dopamine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter so when dopamine reaches the receptor sites, it blocks the neuron from firing. Dopamine is produced in multiple areas of the brain, like the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area. Dopamine plays a important role in the way our brain controls our movements and is thought to be an important part of the basal ganglia motor loop which can be found
There is medicine that can block dopamine receptors, specifically D2 receptors, which reduce schizophrenic symptoms. The the thalamus and the striatum are affected by dopaminergic activity. It is said that schizophrenia results in altered levels of D2 binding potential in those two regions of the brain. For example, the authors say that schizophrenia patients who do not take antipsychotic medications have a lower thalamic D2 binding potential. Untreated schizophrenia patients have a higher number of D2 receptors in the striatum (Crow, Johnstone, Deakin & Longden 1976). Parkinson's disease occurs when nerve cells in an area of the brain that controls movement become impaired or die. Usually, these neurons produce dopamine, but when the neurons die or become impaired, they produce less dopamine. This decrease in dopamine causes problems with movement that most people with Parkinson have. The link between the substantia nigra and the corpus striatum is significantly important to produce not jerky, purposeful movement. Loss of dopamine in this pathway results in abnormal nerve-firing patterns within the brain that causes this impaired