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Dopamine agonists

E

EN21

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Joined
Nov 17, 2005
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I wonder whether dopamine agonists are potential drugs of abuse. Apomororine is used to treat erectile dysfunction, but does one only get a stiffy or is it pleasurable or stimulating in any other way, too.

Anybody with experiences here?
 
Yeah I've never been given a satisfactory explanation as to why dopamine releasers are fun drugs with abuse potential, but dopamine agonists are not.

Apomorphine produces nausea so dunno how good it is as a sex drug really, it was one of the older ones that got replaced by viagra.

Other dopamine agonists might have more potential though. Bromocriptine and Pramipexole are known to cause "inappropriate behavior" like compulsive gambling and insatiable desire for sex but I've never heard anyone say that they're fun by themself, just seems to make people crave dopamine-releasing activities.

And Ropinirole is currently being tested to counteract the sexual dysfunction from SSRIs. So looks like dopamine agonists may well make sex more fun, but have little abuse potential by themselves.

I wonder whether they would make dopaminergic drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine more rewarding too, if dopamine agonists cause compulsive gambling in people who were never like that before, it would suggest they could make other addictions get much worse...
 
I think the fascinating thing about dopamine receptors is that their antagonists are usually what make antipsychotics.

I mean.. how the hell does that work?!
 
One thing I found out recently is following:

Atypical antipsychotics have mixed 5HT2R activity. Taken with an SSRI, you also get increased catecholamine levels in the brain, so this is a powerful augmentation strategy. Mirtazapine also works.
 
branflakes said:
I think the fascinating thing about dopamine receptors is that their antagonists are usually what make antipsychotics.

I mean.. how the hell does that work?!
Click to expand...
Because typically psychosis is caused by too much dopamine. The opposite (not enough) generally equates to parkinson's disease.
 
Parkinson's disease is characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra; the corresponding nigrostriatal pathway primarily activates D1 receptors, and is generally not associated with the mesolimbic/mesocortical pathways that are involved in psychosis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_hypothesis_of_schizophrenia

There's also a bit more to psychosis than just "too much dopamine," as well.
 
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