The Dope on Dopamine

It seems fitting that as 2007 yields to 2008, we spend a moment thinking about dopamine, one of our brain's chemical messengers -- and a key player in mood, motivation, desire and disease. Over the last year, and in previous years as well, UCSF scientists have helped disentangle some of the plot lines that explain how dopamine can play so many roles at once. The full story has yet to be written, of course, but in reviewing the achievements, research insights and ongoing treatment protocols contained in the UCSF stories and websites below, it seems that the outline is at last coming clear. Dopamine and Addiction Dopamine and Parkinson's Learn about dopamine