Dopamine Vs Serotonin Adhd

Translational Neuropharmacology Of Adhd Treatments

Investigations into the effects of stimulant action on the dopaminergic system have revealed that these medications increase extracellular dopamine levels via numerous mechanisms. First, amphetamine has been found to increase dopamine through calcium-independent mechanisms such as increased release of dopamine and blocking the reuptake of dopamine through the DAT . Methylphenidate , another stimulant medication commonly used to treat ADHD, increases dopamine levels by inhibiting dopamine reuptake via the DAT .

The non-stimulant medication atomoxetine is becoming increasingly popular as a treatment for ADHD compared to the stimulant medications because it has lower abuse liability. ATX has been found to increase levels of the catecholamines by selectively blocking the norepinephrine transporter , which is also able to clear dopamine and, like stimulants, is effective at lessoning the intensity of ADHD symptoms . In vitro work has shown that ATX acts as an NMDA receptor antagonist , providing preliminary evidence that current treatments for ADHD may have a direct effect on the glutamatergic system.

Got It Now What Does That Have To Do With Adhd

ADHD is a complex condition that seems to have many different causes. But research suggests people with ADHD tend to have dopamine action and levels that are different from the norm.

Some research has shown that people with ADHD who dont take medication have lower levels of dopamine transporters proteins that are involved in the release of dopamine.

When people with ADHD do take certain medications, their levels of dopamine transporters go up.

Another study found that differences in the dopamine transporter gene DAT1 are tied to mood instability but not to other common ADHD traits, like impulsivity or trouble paying attention.

Despite this, the relationship between ADHD and dopamine is far from rock-solid. While some studies seem to show a link, others suggest something different.

A 2013 study, for instance, concluded that ADHD is more closely related to subtle alterations of gray matter in the brain than to levels of dopamine.

How Are Low Dopamine Levels Linked To Adhd

The connection between ADHD and dopamine is a little complicated.

Your childâs brain makes dopamine naturally. Your hypothalamus and your adrenal glands help create and release the chemical.

If your child has ADHD, they may be low in dopamine but high in something called dopamine transporters. Thatâs because their low dopamine may actually result from having too many of the transporters that take dopamine out of their brain cells. Those transporters wash dopamine out of your childâs brain before the chemical can finish its job.

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Can Dopamine And Serotonin Also Cause Depression

Dopamine and serotonin themselves may not cause depression. However, researchers believe that an imbalance of these neurotransmitters is a major factor in the development of depression.

A dopamine imbalance can cause depression symptoms, such as apathy and feelings of hopelessness, while a serotonin imbalance can affect the processing of emotions.

What Is The Difference Between Serotonin And Dopamine

Both serotonin and dopamine are often referred to as happy hormones and interact with each other to maintain balance within the body. These two neurotransmitters regulate mood and emotion, and deficiency of either can lead to several mental disorders. Despite these similarities, however, they each operate differently.

Serotonin and dopamine belong to the same group of neurotransmitters known as monoamines. Neurotransmitters transmit information between neurons and play a role in several bodily functions such as sleep, metabolism, memory, and emotional well-being. Imbalance of these neurotransmitters can lead to certain medical conditions.

Table: Serotonin vs. dopamine

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Sensitivity And Retrospective Analyses

The results of the DRD4 7-repeat allele and the DRD5 148-bp allele were consistent, and were not changed substantially by the removal of any data set. For the 7-repeat allele, the P -values were never > 2×10 10 for the 148-bp allele, the largest P -value was 6×10 6 . For the 5-repeat allele, which has a low frequency , the P -value became non-significant after study by Comings was removed. This study accounted for more than one-third of the total sample size.

Analysis in retrospect based on the publication year , showed that the cumulative results tended to be stable after 2001 for the DRD4 long alleles, but not for the DRD5 gene, for which the rough asymptote line suggested that more studies are needed .

Figure 3.

Cumulative syntheses of studies for the DRD4 7-repeat allele and the DRD5 148-bp alleles shown by overall ln, the 4-, 5-repeat alleles and DAT1 480-bp allele were similar with the 7-repeat allele.

Sensitivity analyses and other meta-data/figures of each individual study are available on request.

What Is The Role Of Dopamine

Dopamine is responsible for allowing you to feel pleasure, satisfaction and motivation. When you feel good that you have achieved something, its because you have a surge of dopamine in the brain.

Its possible, however, that you start craving more of this dopamine reward, which is caused by many pleasant experiences, including eating nice food, having sex, winning a game and earning money. Alcohol and many illegal drugs cause a surge of dopamine too, which is partly why people get addicted to them.

Dopamine also has a role to play in controlling memory, mood, sleep, learning, concentration and body movements.

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Serotonin And Dopamine: Take The Next Step

Serotonin and dopamine are two major neurotransmitters, each with a unique set of important functions.

Their functions overlap when it comes to depression.

Depression has long been considered to be caused by a serotonin deficiency, but treating depression with drugs that increase serotonin works for less than half of those who try them.

Depression is a complex disorder that almost certainly is due to many contributing factors.

Theres a growing body of evidence that dopamine dysregulation is one of them.

There are numerous lifestyle activities and supplements that can simultaneously increase both serotonin and dopamine.

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Triple Reuptake Inhibitors: New Antidepressants

It seems as though researchers are catching on though and are trying to develop medications that target serotonin, norepinephrine, as well as dopamine. I tend to think that although this development could be useful, it sounds a bit overcomplicated. Many people do not need to tinker with all three neurotransmitters at the same time.

It would be much more favorable to simply target either dopamine or serotonin in my opinion and determine which class of drugs works better. The triple reuptake of neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine sounds more and more like taking an illicit drug. I can only imagine how horrendous the withdrawal would be from something that tinkers with that many neurotransmitters.

The major difference between these medications and older ones is that they include the reuptake inhibition of dopamine. Although Wellbutrin can inhibit reuptake dopamine, it does it to a very little degree. Most dopamine reuptake inhibitors are weak in their reuptake of actual dopamine. With that said, this could be a reason why using Wellbutrin for ADHD works in some cases.

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Serotonin Vs Dopamine: What Are The Differences

By Olivia Guy-Evans, published Sept 14, 2021

Fact checkedby Saul Mcleod, PhD

Key Takeaways

• Dopamine and serotonin are both neurotransmitters, meaning they are chemical messengers in the brain which communicate via neurons.
• Serotonin is associated with feelings of happiness, focus and calm, whilst dopamine is associated with feelings of rewards, motivation, and being productive. Dopamine and serotonin are considered the âhappy hormonesâ as they play a role in increasing positive moods and emotions.
• Both dopamine and serotonin also play a role in regulating digestion through suppressing or increasing appetite depending on the bodyâs needs.
• Whilst they have similar effects on the brain and body, they work in different ways. A lack of either of these chemicals, or both, have been linked with mental health conditions, especially those relating to mood disorders and addiction.

Are Dopamine And Serotonin Opposites

Serotonin and dopamine sometimes work together, but these brain chemicals can also have opposite effects. For example, dopamine can enhance that reward-driven behavior, like impulsively going for another slice of pie, whereas serotonin helps inhibit those more impulsive behaviors that seek the dopamine-mediated reward. So, forget the idea of the angel and the devil resting on your shoulder as you ponder whether to indulgeits really dopamine and serotonin calling the shots!

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Animal Models Of Adhd

Although non-human primate brains are closer to human brains than rodents, rodent models of ADHD have the advantage that they are genetically more homogeneous, they are less expensive to maintain, greater numbers of experimental animals are available so they are not used for multiple studies, and much more is known about their neurobiology than primates. The researcher also has better control over variables such as diet, environment, and learning history. Rodent models have simpler nervous systems, they cannot be used to study complex cognitive behaviour like language but their basic behavioural mechanisms are similar to humans.

ADHD is a heterogeneous disorder with individual patients presenting with quite different behavioural symptoms probably as a result of different combinations of genetic and environmental factors. Animal models provide invaluable insight into the neurochemistry underlying specific aspects of ADHD behaviour, when compared to appropriate controls. Differences between the behaviour of an animal model and its control can be correlated with differences in their neurochemistry and behavioural pharmacology.

Modeling The Multiple Functions Of Serotonin

As discussed above, the study of DA’s function has been strongly influenced by a quantitative computational hypothesis, the prediction error theory. A similarly detailed computational theory has not emerged for 5-HT, in part, perhaps because the extant data are less clear. For this reason, one approach has been to attempt to extrapolate from theories of DA to hypotheses for serotonergic function, in part due to empirical evidence for DA-5-HT interactions.

Consistent with the primary behavioral characterization of 5-HT as supporting functions roughly opposite to those of DA, there are also anatomical and neurophysiological reasons to believe that 5-HT serves, at least in some respects, to oppose DA . For example, there are direct projections from the 5-HT raphé nuclei to DA neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the ventral tegmental area . Although some of these projections are glutamatergic , it is unclear whether the release sites for serotonin and glutamate in the VTA are segregated or colocalized . Electrical stimulation of the raphé inhibits SNc DA neurons, and this effect is mediated by 5-HT . However, as is the case for the clinical data, this opponency is imperfect for instance, the effects of 5-HT on DA neurons may depend on their location, with differences between SNc and VTA , and on the receptor type at which it acts , whereas evidence for reciprocal effects of DA on 5-HT neurons is less strong than that for serotonergic effects on DA neurons.

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Do Dopamine And Serotonin Make A Person Happy

People often call dopamine and serotonin the happy hormones, because they promote mental well-being.

Dopamine, also known as the feel-good hormone, is associated with the brains reward system and produces pleasant sensations.

Serotonin can help increase happiness by alleviating depression and anxiety.

Low Dopamine Levels In The Brain

Changes in dopamine levels and dopamine activity are involved in several different medical conditions.

For instance, dopamine levels are sometimes described as being too high or too low, but research suggests that the disorders are caused by more complex changes than high or low levels of dopamine.

In addition, the effects of these different conditions can also be related to alterations in dopamine activity in specific regions of the brain.

Many of the conditions associated with dopamine alterations are also associated with changes in other neurotransmitters as well, which adds to the complexity of the disorders and their treatments.

Conditions associated with dopamine changes in the brain include:

Other conditions that have been linked to altered dopamine action include Tourettes syndrome and binge eating disorder.

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Does Too Much Dopamine Cause Schizophrenia

Increased activity of the mesolimbic pathway is related to positive symptoms of schizophrenia . This means that increasing the activity of dopamine receptors in this brain system could theoretically reduce delusions and hallucinations.

A closely related idea is that by blocking post-synaptic dopamine receptors, scientists can reduce the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia.

As mentioned previously, this is what most modern medications do: they block post-synaptic dopamine receptors in order to reduce psychotic symptoms. Unfortunately, when scientists block all available dopamine receptors they also produce a number of debilitating side effects such as extrapyramidal symptoms and tardive dyskinesia.

Adhd And The Link To Neurochemistry

When the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was first published in 1952, childhood psychiatric disorders were thought to be caused by environment and referred to as reactions . It wasnt until the DSM-2 was published in 1968 that ADHD began to be separated from general reactions and become its own diagnosis, referred to as the hyperkinetic reaction of childhood. This reaction was characterized by a short attention span, hyperactivity, and restlessness , and in 1980, with the publication of the DSM-3, the ADHD diagnosis became more specific and was described as ADD however, by this time, this disorder was already being treated with stimulant medications, a treatment still used to this day.

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Neurotransmitter Recording Techniques: Methods

High-speed chronoamperometric recordings of dopamine release and uptake in the PFC of the SHR

Male, 8-10 weeks old, inbred spontaneously hypertensive rats , inbred Wistar Kyoto rats , and outbred Sprague Dawley rats were obtained from Charles River Laboratories , Wilmington, Massachusetts. Animals were given access to food and water ad libitum and housed in a 12 hour light/dark cycle. Protocols for animal use were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, which is Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International approved. All procedures were carried out in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and all efforts were made to minimize animal suffering and to reduce the number of animals used.

High-speed amperometric recordings of glutamate levels in the PFC of the DRD4 knockout mouse

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What Does Adhd Look Like

In my 40 years as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I have treated thousands of youngsters. With some children, I am able to make a quick evaluation about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and outline a course of ADHD treatment.

With others more often than I care to admit I have to tell parents that its not clear what is wrong. Its not that I lack the expertise or diagnostic skills. Its just that psychiatry isnt quite as far along as other medical specialties.

A pediatrician can do a throat culture and tell at once whether a child needs an antibiotic appropriate treatment follows the diagnosis. In contrast, psychiatrists are often required to initiate a specific treatment and worry about clarifying the diagnosis later on. As I often tell parents, we must put out the fire and blow the smoke away before we can figure out what started the fire.

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