Dopamine generated without drugs
 

Interesting paper proposing the brain cvan be trained to release more dopamine without meds.
Ron


http://vahlchiropractic.com/blog/201...asure-centers/


That’s why researchers were very excited about a new study which showed a
way that people can increase dopamine production without ingesting any drugs or supplements.
In a new study researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University, Åbo Akademi University, and the University of Turku showed for the first time that working-memory training is associated with an increased release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in specific brain regions.
"Working-memory training resulted in increased dopamine release…", says Lars Bäckman, Professor at Karolinska Institutet, and one of the scientists behind the study.
In the study, subjects were trained in updating working memory for five weeks by means of a letter-memory task. Compared to a control group that did not receive any training, the trained group showed a gradual improvement of working-memory performance.
And perhaps even more importantly, results from a PET scan demonstrated an increased release of dopamine in the brain after training. In addition, dopamine release was seen during the letter-memory task also before training; this release increased markedly after training.
With the importance of maintaining a good memory and having sufficient dopamine, you might want to consider trying some regular memory training.

The miracle of Adaptation
 

Thank you Ron for this. To me, this is a demo of some thing I believed in for some time, which is "The miracle of Adaptation". You need not go very far to find so many examples of 'miraculous' tasks performed by people with serious handicaps.
The present treatments for PD do not give the brain any chance of self-recovery.
Imad

Thanks, Ron!
 

As we age it is normal to wane in cognitive skills. But what about when a neurodegenerative disorder removes you from the workforce, or isolates us due to lack of mobility?

I have been doing a presentation called "Brainiac." It consists of a battery of "tests" and games or activities to help improve executive function tasks. This study that you cited will go right along with that.

If anyone reading this has any studies showing interventions to delay the risks of dementia or Alzheimer's, I would love to have them.

I have yet to find conclusive studies that say "Use your brain or lose it," although it makes perfect sense.
Peggy

Brain Training for Dopamine
 

Brain Workshop version 4.8.1 is a free download and you can choose from a variety of "n back' tasks to train the brain.

The ' n-back' entry in Wikipedia I found helpful.

karolinska institute
 

In a corresponding study there at Karolinska

http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp?l=e...20&newsdep=130

It was shown that dopamine is acting as a "switch" to turn on or off production of new neurons, brain cells.
I thought it was particularly interesting that in the salamanders that were being treated with l-dopa, this function of dopamine is inhibited- so that no new stem cells are created!!
"When the salamanders were treated with L-dopa, the production of new dopamine-producing neurons was almost completely inhibited and the animals were unable to recover..."

Music
 

Here is a report that syas "Music causes the release of dopamine in the brain".
From a quick glance at the paper, it seems like dopamine production is from brain areas other than substantia nigra.

So folks, listen to your favorite music while playing brain games....
Joking aside, this thread is very informative and we can test this hypothesis fairly easily using John's protocol.
Any one interested in participating?
John, any thoughts on experimental design?

Thanks
Girija


A Review of the paper in Scientist
y Megan Scudellari
Musical pleasure
Drugs, sex, and food aren't the only sources of pleasure -- music activates the brain's reward circuitry as well

[Published 9th January 2011 06:00 PM GMT]

Sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll have more in common that we thought. A new study, published online today (January 9) in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrates for the first time that music causes the release of dopamine in the brain, just like other pleasurable stimuli, such as food, drugs, and sex.

Listening to intensely pleasurable music releases dopamine in the brain. Credit: Peter Finnie
Even the anticipation of a pleasurable musical crescendo results in the release of dopamine, the authors report. "This is what music theorists have been telling us for centuries," said Robert Zatorre, a neuropsychologist at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, and senior author on the study -- that a resolution of dissonance or the crescendo of a song emotionally affects the listener.

To assess the biological mechanism behind a pleasurable musical experience, the team conducted PET and fMRI brain scans while measuring the "chills" -- aka changes in temperature, skin conductance, heart rate and breathing -- that participants felt in response to their favorite songs, which ranged from classical to jazz to techno and even bagpipes. The researchers found that during peak emotional moments, when patients got the "chills," dopamine was released in two areas of the brain: First, in the caudate, an important part of the brain's learning and memory system, during anticipation of a musical peak, then during the peak experience, in the nucleus accumbens, a key site of reward and pleasure pathways.

The results may explain why music is so highly valued in society, said Zatorre, a trained organist who doesn't listen "to anything composed past 1750," he laughs. "Art in general has survived since the dawn of human existence, and is found in all human societies....................

Read more: Musical pleasure - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/di.../#ixzz1USNRW6D

Article from Nature

[B]Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music

Valorie N Salimpoor, Mitchel Benovoy, Kevin Larcher, Alain Daghe & Robert J Zatorre

Nature Neurosciences 14, 257–262 (2011)
doi:10.1038/nn.2726

Music, an abstract stimulus, can arouse feelings of euphoria and craving, similar to tangible rewards that involve the striatal dopaminergic system. Using the neurochemical specificity of [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography scanning, combined with psychophysiological measures of autonomic nervous system activity, we found endogenous dopamine release in the striatum at peak emotional arousal during music listening. To examine the time course of dopamine release, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging with the same stimuli and listeners, and found a functional dissociation: the caudate was more involved during the anticipation and the nucleus accumbens was more involved during the experience of peak emotional responses to music. These results indicate that intense pleasure in response to music can lead to dopamine release in the striatal system. Notably, the anticipation of an abstract reward can result in dopamine release in an anatomical pathway distinct from that associated with the peak pleasure itself. Our results help to explain why music is of such high value across all human societies.

brain
 

Peg,
Here is review of an article that might be useful for your presentation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...r-multitasking

girija

The thread on Brainworkshop is quite interesting. Thanks to those who initiated this thread. I would like to give further information on installation and usage of this brain exercise. If you wish to use it follow the procedure outlined below:
1. Go to "http://brainworkshop.sourceforge.net/"
2. Click the "Download" link to get the software.
3. The file named "Brainworkshop-4.8.1-win32-setup.exe" will be downloaded.
4. Right-click the file name and select "run as administrator" for Windows 7 or simply "Run" for Windows XP.
5. At the end of the installation process tick the squares "Read help file" and "Launch Brainworkshop".
In case anyone has any problems in downloading or installation please feel free to ask for further clarification.

Should we be thinking of dance rather than passive listening to music? Would movement target more precisely?

oh****
 

we seem to be no different than any other addict. i may as well start smoking again. can't be more deadly that l-dopa. i definitely would be smoking marijuana if i could get it. nothing is safe so why not. sorry it's my grumpy mumbly rambling time of day. this is not due to pd - it's from the meds.

girija, how would we measure that music helps? i might have missed something i 'm distracted by another post saying sinemet is killing us. it's a harsh reality that -quite frankly -about which i wish i could remain in denial.