Word: serotonin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Still, scientists are not expecting miracles, particularly in battling cocaine addiction. Unlike heroin, which acts on the pain-killing endorphin system alone, cocaine engages three separate neurotransmitter systems: those based on dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Taken together, these networks govern the human ability to experience pleasure, from watching a sunrise to having sex. Blocking all these pleasure centers -- as methadone blocks the heroin high -- would literally take the joy out of life, says Yale's Kosten. "We'd turn out automatons." Addicts trying to quit cocaine go through a stage called anhedonia, a sort of spiritless limbo that typically drives...
...have a close relative with a mood disorder. Also baffling is the exact role that the absence or presence of light plays in seasonal mood shifts. Among the theories: a disturbance in the body's natural clock and abnormal production of melatonin, a hormone manufactured in the brain, and serotonin, a chemical that helps transmit nerve impulses...
...alcohol's sedative effects in rats. Although the drug is toxic to humans, variants could one day be useful in treatment. Other scientists are studying a new class of drugs that seem to block the alcoholic's craving for a drink. These compounds boost the amount of another neurotransmitter, serotonin, in the brain, thus encouraging a sense of well-being -- and bolstering abstinence...
Crack's addictive qualities affect the brain's biochemistry. The nerve cells of the brain communicate with one another with the help of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Crack triggers the brain to release these substances, chiefly dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, at once. This overstimulation, says Rosecan, "probably results in the euphoria experienced by the user...
Because stress alters the body's chemical balance, it seems to influence the development of many diseases, including psychiatric disorders. Depression has been associated with low levels of two neurotransmitters, serotonin and norepinephrine. Similarly, schizophrenia seems to be related to an excess of dopamine...