Posted by linkadge on February 6, 2010, at 17:19:21 [reposted on February 22, 2010, at 1:20:58 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Dopamine not the magic answer folks, posted by bulldog2 on February 6, 2010, at 11:46:20
>Amineptine targeted dopamine and was an >effective ad.
Amineptine had some effect on the dopamine transporter. So whats your point?
>Dopamine is needed to experience pleasure and >that is a piece of the whole depression pic.
Its all a bunch of theoretical B.S. at this point. Dopamine is not the magic pleasure chemical. Recent studies show that dopamine is more involved in motivation to seek reward but not actually in the process of experiencing reward. In the latter case, opiates appear to be more involved in experiencing reward.
>SSRIS often cause downregulation of dopamine and >a state of anhedonia.
If dopamine was the cure all, you could just take a dopamine precursor and bam everything would be fine. Its much more complicated than that. In parkinsons patients, ldopa can actually induce depressive states as well as mood swings and mental instability.
Many studies have been initiated to connect dopamine levels with depression. The results are equivocol. For instance, in this study, dopamine levels were higher in patients with depression and psychomotor retardation.
>Some people may truely lack enough dopamine.Yes, the word is may. Show me one scientific study that links low dopamine to depression.
>If some are lacking in serotonin and >norepinephrine than one cannot be low in >dopamine? Why is that?
I'm not saying you cannot be low in dopamine, but depression is MUCH more compex than that. There are hundreds of neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, neuropeptides etc that may be out of ballance in depression.
What is nonsensicle and non logical is when people come on this board and say oh, I have symptom x therefore I need more of chemical x. It just doesn't work that way.
Depression may not even be related to abnormal neurotransmiters, it may be a result of abnormal protein kinases, neuropeptides or epigenic factors that we are just beginning to understand.
The point is that we just don't know.
>We certainly need ads that preserve dopamine >function and do not lower it. That is why some >ads create so many sides including sexual >function.
Maybe we do maybe we don't. Seeing as we don't have a friggen clue what causes depression....
>Again you cannot compare stimulants that cause a >massive release of dopamine and there depletion >of dopamine with drugs that would maintain >healthy dopamine function.
Show me one study that proves dopamine is low in depression. How did people arive at the conclusion that dopamine is low in depression? Because of amineptine? Amineptine is no more proof that dopamine is low in depression that SSRIs are proof that serotonin is low in depression. SSRI's have many targets. Also, SSRI's do not consistently raise serotonin levels. They increase it initially but studies show that after about 2 weeks there is no increase in serotonin levels - so how can this be the mechaism?
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:937616
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/neuro/20091104/msgs/937621.html