Imaging Dopamine

An illustrated biography of the dopamine molecule, with each chapter presenting a specific stage in the biochemical pathway for dopamine.

Paul Cumming (Author)

9780521790024, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 April 2009

356 pages, 20 colour illus.
25.5 x 17.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.88 kg

Since its discovery 50 years ago, brain dopamine has been implicated in the control of movement and cognition, and is concerned with diverse brain diseases such as Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and drug addiction. This book is an illustrated biography of the dopamine molecule, from its synthesis in the brain to its signalling mechanisms and ultimately to its metabolic breakdown. Using colour illustrations of positron emission tomography (PET) scans, each chapter presents a specific stage in the biochemical pathway for dopamine. Writing for researchers and graduate students, Paul Cumming presents a compilation of all that has been learned about dopamine through molecular imaging, a technology which allows the measurement of formerly invisible processes in the living brain. He reviews current technical controversies in the interpretation of dopamine imaging, and presents key results illuminating brain dopamine in illness and health.

1. The life history of dopamine
2. Enzymology of tyrosine hydroxylase
3. The assay of tyrosine hydroxylase
4. Enzymology of aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (AAADC)
5. PET studies of DOPA utilization
6. Conjugation and sulfonation of dopamine and its metabolites
7. Dopamine synthesis and metabolism rates
8. MAO activity in brain
9. Vesicular storage of dopamine
10. Dopamine release: from vesicles to behavior
11. The plasma membrane dopamine transporter (DAT)
12. Dopamine receptors
13. Imaging dopamine D1 receptors
14. Imaging dopamine D2 receptors
15. Factors influencing D2 binding in living brain
16. The absolute abundance of dopamine receptors in brain
17. Perspectives.

Subject Areas: Molecular biology [PSD], Neurosciences [PSAN], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR]