Past Issues

Dopamine is the one of the most studied neurotransmitters. Dopamine is found in a wide range of intelligent animals. Dopamine is associated with human evolution and adaptive behaviors. Hyper- and hypo-dopaminergic functions are associated with many mental disorders. In the recent decades, studies using molecular neuroimage techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), have seen the in vivo activity of dopaminergic function, and provided persuasive evidence on the association between psychiatric disorders and dopamine function. Molecular neuroim- age technique as a valid research device, is unrevealing the detailed mechanisms on mental disorders. In the present overview, we focus on illustrating the neuroimage evidence for the association between dopamine function and some mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).