What is dopamine?

They're messing with mice again. This time, they're screwing with their genetic dopamine receptors. "This study shows that the effects of chronic alcohol consumption on brain chemistry are critically influenced by an individual's pre-existing genetic makeup." Proving once again that your genes are what ails you.

We talk about dopamine here a lot. Well, what is dopamine? It's a neurotransmitter, which means it is the something that goes between the neurons in your brain and makes them talk to each other. Imagine neurons as the little pieces of the different lobes of your brain. We're talking microscopic, here.

So, "Dopamine has many functions in the brain, including important roles in behavior and cognition, voluntary movement, motivation, punishment and reward, inhibition of prolactin production (involved in lactation and sexual gratification), sleep, mood, attention, working memory, and learning." Which is why we see it in the addiction and bipolar articles all the time. "Amphetamines are similar in structure to dopamine."

(One with neat little drawings.)

So dopamine is an important part of the brain's systems, and the part that vexes us alcoholics and mentally ill folks the most. Now you know who your friend/enemy is. You can't get rid of it, but you can mess with your serotonin to help with mental illness. Why serotonin? What the hell does that have to do with dopamine?