Dopamine

Danielle Schissler

"20 things you don't know about me (Dopamine, that is)"

1. Where I hang out most of the time: Synaptic vesicles. There's usually a lot of me just chillin' in the brain, that's where I stay when I'm not in use.

2. I am responsible for: movements, motivation, punishment and reward, sleep, mood, learning, and memory, among other things.

3. I'm most similar to the drug: methamphetamine. Part of me wishes that I could be related to a more helpful drug. Ah well.

4. My favorite activity is: Hanging out in the synaptic vesicles with the other excess me's. My people are pretty cool to hang out with, sertonin's not bad either :)

5. I hate it when: I'm not in use. I like for my human to enjoy things!

6. The best thing about receptor sites is: I have my own type of them! I don't even have to share. There are five types of them: D1, D2, D3, D4, and yeah, you guessed it, D5.

7. When humans don't have enough of me: they can become depressed or have muscle tremors. They also become more prone to addictions.

8. In a choice between robots or zombies: I guess robots. Zombies, as far as I know, don't really have much of a need for me. They're pretty bad at moving and sleeping and don't really have moods beyond angry... So yeah, robots just because they would beat zombies in a fight, then.

9. The sucky thing about being a hormone: All the responsibilities. If I take even one vacation day, my person wouldn't be able to move or be motivated, or anything. The job's pretty taxing.

10. A really strange fact about me: THC triggers the brain to produce more of me.

11. My favorite food and why: Avocados. They're a supplier of tyrosine, which is an amino acid used in my activation. Also, they go nice with lemon and chips.

12. I once dated a synapse, but it fell apart because: She had a thing going on with an axon and a dendrite at the same time. Not fair to me! I wanted the relationship to be exclusive, you know? It //was// her job though, I guess.

13. Sleep is awesome because: If you miss a night of it, I increase!

14. A (quite vengeful) neuron walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender says, "Isn't that stuff suppossed to kill brain cells?". The neuron looks over at his nemisis, sitting on the other end of the bar, and replies "Yeah, but it doesn't say which. I'll take my chances".

15. When humans have too much of me: They get twitchy. They can also become paranoid and anxious and their blood pressure goes up. A higher level of me also has been linked to Schizophrenia.

16. My favourite song is Modern Chemistry by Motion City Soundtrack. It mentions both Sertonin (my best friend =D) and synapses, my old crush.

17. My nickname is DA.

18. I'm made in several places in the brain, including (but not limited to) the Substantia Nigra and the Ventral Tegmental area.

19. Most people call me Dopamine (or my answer to #17 if they can't be bothered with the extra syllable), but my full name is 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzene-1,2-diol, or C6H3(OH)2-CH2-CH2-NH2 in more chemical terms.

20. If my D2 receptor cites are low, it can cause the humans to have social anxiety disorder.

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/archives/2011/Jan/ My friend Serotonin and me. We're pretty chill dudes. Popular, too.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Dopamine_Pathways.png My pathways, how I get to work in the morning. [] My profile picture. This one for sure shows the good side of my chemical makeup.

http://www.georgiapainphysicians.com/downloads/m1_slides/6.%20Synapse.jpg That synapse I had a thing with. Here she is with the Axon and Dendrite that she... also had things with. She was super pretty, but it just didn't work out. [] If you don't produce enough of me, I can be bought. Not to be a sell-out or anything.

Status Updates: Dopamine: Going out to a party later. Anybody want to come with? Sertonin will for sure be there as well. BFFLs Dopamine: I wish we neurotransmitters got more vacation days. We're pretty much on call ALL THE TIME. Dopamine: Going to go wander the brain, see if anyone needs me. hmu Dopamine: Raced adrenaline earlier. I always beat her, though. Dopamine: Super unmotivated. I'm low on myself today. Napping.

Please paste the sites that you used at the bottom of the page like: http://allpsych.com/psychology101/neurotransmitters.html http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/dopamine http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/UBNRP/meth08/biochemistry/dopamine.htm [] []