INTRO:
We all know the eternal college student struggle… sitting in your chair and that clock is tick tick.. tcking… suddenly you realize it’s one hour before that 5 page paper is due and you spent all day scrolling through tiktok. Or that moment when your mom is telling you to get something from the fridge and suddenly you’re standing there, like… hm.. What did I come here to get. All just to return to your bed and remember… damn it i didn’t take the chicken out of the fridge!
Well if it makes you feel better we’ve all been there,
And after this speech you can all go home and tell your mom, “ no mom im not lazy or stupid its my brain!”
More specifically, this guy’s fault…
Now you may be asking, what’s this…
This is dopamine…
BODY:
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the hypothalamus of the brain, created by the decarboxylation of tyrosine and L- Dopa.
Dopamine plays a vital role in many physiological functions including mood, movement, memory, reward pathways and motor control.
Communication in the dopamine system is important because a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, OCD, and drug addiction, result from impaired dopamine receptor signaling. Many of the drugs used to treat these disorders target dopamine receptors.
Since many suffer from low brain dopamine concentrations, affecting their motivation, memory and cognitive control.
Examination of dopaminergic axon boutons, which are the release sites of dopamine, allows assessment of dopamine signaling at the structural level. Multiple methods are available for quantifying dopamine boutons in the prefrontal cortex, but the relative strength and weakness of these methods have yet to be established
One way to measure dopamine levels is to use a mouse line that expresses a fluorescent dopaminergic reporter, DAT-Ai14, to assess levels of dopaminergic signaling using a transgenic approach to label boutons.
This lights them up like little stars as we can see here..
From here we can assess how factors such as age and ethnicity can impact dopamine quantities.
Data shows the older we get the less dopamine we have
And if you are a POC you are at a higher chance of having an undiagnosed dopamine dysfunction.
Dopamine measurement is also crucial to Understanding the biological effects of childhood trauma, PTSD and addiction
As increased levels of dopamine in certain areas of the brain can be linked to poor impulse control, addiction and gambling
Overall, dopamine plays a huge role in our daily functions, from grades, to memories.
Furthering research in the measurement and chemical synthesis of dopamine is pivotal for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
It could be the answer to the future cure for alzeihmers or simply eradicating adhd medication or “uppers” dependencies
CONCLUSION:
So remember, next time you keep scrolling or singing instead of reading and typing..
Or when you’re looking for the remote when its literally in your hand..
Its not your fault!
Its dopamines..
Though I wouldn’t recommend telling a professor that next time your paper is late… unless they have a great sense of humor…
