Alexander Kobulnicky

Dopamine
11” x 14”
Acrylic on canvas
2010
$250

The neurotransmitter dopamine looms large in the popular mind, as a locus of action for many different drugs, the element at the base of several high-profile diseases, and its position as the moderator of some of the most intruiging brain functions — including pleasure, motivation, sexual gratification, excitement, memory and cognition.

Most stimulant drugs, including amphetamines and cocaine, work on the dopamine system, either by forcing it into the synapses, preventing its reuptake, or mimicking it at dopamine receptors, and consequently causing the agitation and racing thoughts that amphetamines are known for.

One of the leading theories of schizophrenia postulates that it is caused by improper dopamine levels in the brain, and antipsychotic drugs are thought to work chiefly by lowering dopamine levels. This is supported by the experience of some stimulant abusers, who suffer hallucinations and delusions much like those of schizophrenics. However, insufficient dopamine in the brain is associated with Parkinson’s disease and related conditions, in which control of the skeletal muscles is lost, resulting in tremor, rigidity, and difficulty moving.

While treatment for schizophrenia can depress dopamine levels to the point that patients start showing Parkinsonian symptoms like tardive diskinesia, the uncontrollable movement of the facial muscles, some treatments for Parkinson’s disease aimed at elevating dopamine levels in the brain can cause agitation and psychosis, reflecting the tension between these two dreadful sets of symptoms that plays out in the brain’ dopamine system.

These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, oxygen red, and nitrogen blue. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas