Nobel Laureate Arvid Carlsson about dopamine and how it is involved in almost all brain functions

Arvid Carlsson, professor emeritus of pharmacology, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2000 for his discovery that dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain. Professor Carlsson showed that dopamine acts as a messenger molecule in the brain and that a lack of this substance causes impaired motor skills, such as in Parkinson's disease. 92 year old Arvid Carlsson is still an active researcher – right now he is working on OSU6162, a molecule dates back to the 80's. The molecule may be useful against various diseases associated with dopamine function in the brain, including the brain fatigue after stroke and narcolepsy. The molecule functions as a stabilizer: it can both increase and decrease dopamine function in the brain and thus appears both diseases due to both too much and too little dopamine. According to Arvid Carlsson, a future drug based on OSU6162 could be highly important, because dopamine is involved in almost all brain functions. Akademiliv is a podcast from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. Feel free to contact us at akademiliv@gu.se · http://sahlgrenska.gu.se/english