3.2.2 Dopamine Explanation (Sch)

Question 1

(Dopamine) what did research in the 1950s look at the role of dopamine in?

Answer 1

Parkinson’s disease

Question 2

(Dopamine) what is Parkinson’s disease?

Answer 2

Neurological disease causing tremors and slow imprecise movement

Question 3

(Dopamine) what did the drug L-DOPA do for the symptoms of Parkinson’s?

Answer 3

Increased the amount of dopamine reducing Parkinson’s symptoms

Question 4

(Dopamine) when people were given L-DOPA what did they show? What did this lead to?

Answer 4

Behaviours similar to those of individuals with schizophrenia
Link made between dopamine and schizophrenia

Question 5

(Initial hypothesis) what did the initial dopamine hypothesis propose?

Answer 5

Individuals with schizophrenia had too much dopamine

Question 6

(Initial hypothesis) as individuals had too much dopamine they demonstrated symptoms related to what?

Answer 6

High levels of dopamine

Question 7

(Initial hypothesis) The initial hypothesis was supported by what?

Answer 7

Research

Question 8

(Initial hypothesis) What did Griffith et at do to non schizophrenic patients?

Answer 8

Induced psychosis

Question 9

(Initial hypothesis) Griffith Dave volunteers what drug and what did it do?

Answer 9

Dextro-amphetamine

Drug increasing amount of dopamine in the brain

Question 10

(Initial hypothesis) Griffith - what symptoms did the volunteers demonstrate?

Answer 10

Paranoid delusions

Detached emotional response

Question 11

(Initial hypothesis) the initial hypothesis was identified as being too what?

Answer 11

Simple

Question 12

(Initial hypothesis) simple - administering drugs to reduce dopamine had little to no effect on who?

Answer 12

People suffering with negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Question 13

(Dopamine receptors) the situation was complicated by the discovery of what?

Answer 13

Several subtypes of dopamine receptor sites D1-D5

Question 14

(Dopamine receptors) where were these new found receptors distributed?

Answer 14

Widely in the cerebral cortex and subcortically in the limbic system

Question 15

(Dopamine receptors) which receptor was focused on and why?

Answer 15

D2

This specific receptor was blocked by antipsychotics

Question 16

(Dopamine receptors) why did the limbic system become the main focus of the dopamine hypothesis?

Answer 16

That is where D2 receptors are found

Question 17

(Revised hypothesis) what has been the main focus of study in recent years?

Answer 17

The role of dopamine in the limbic system

Question 18

(Revised hypothesis) what does the limbic system consist of?

Answer 18

Subcritical structures involved in emotion and memory formation

Question 19

(Revised hypothesis) what leave from the limbic system?

Answer 19

Nerve pathways to many other subcortical and cortical regions

Question 20

(Revised hypothesis) what are the two main pathways associated with schizophrenia?

Answer 20

Mesolimbic pathway

Mesocortical pathway

Question 21

(Revised hypothesis) what does the mesocortical pathway consist of?

Answer 21

Ventral tegmental area

Nucleus accumbens

Question 22

(Revised hypothesis) mesolimbic - where does too much dopamine come from?

Answer 22

Neurons firing too often or too quickly

Question 23

(Revised hypothesis) mesolimbic - too much dopamine results in what?

Answer 23

Overstimulation and the positive symptoms e.g. Hallucinations

Question 24

(Revised hypothesis) mesolimbic - antipsychotic drugs reduce what?

Answer 24

Dopaminergic transmission
Dopamine activity in the pathway
Positive symptoms

Question 25

(Revised hypothesis) mesocortical - this pathway carries signals from where to where?

Answer 25

Ventral tegmental area to frontal lobe

Question 26

(Revised hypothesis) mesocortical - what is this nerve pathway essential in?

Answer 26

Emotional response
Motivation
Cognition

Question 27

(Revised hypothesis) mesocortical - what is hypofunction?

Answer 27

Too little dopamine

Question 28

(Revised hypothesis) mesocortical - where is hypofunction evident?

Answer 28

D1 receptors of frontal lobe of individuals with negative symptoms