Understanding Dopamine's Role in Parkinson's Disease
Dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons and reward pathways
The altered functionality of dopaminergic neurons and reward pathways is known to play a role in the development of many neuropsychiatric brain diseases like drug addiction, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, and Parkinson’s disease to name a few.
Changes in the reward pathway are considered to play a role in many behavioral changes. In fact, neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that in those addicted to gambling, or suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, there are changes in the activity of the reward pathway.