Scientists have clarified the role of dopamine in learning and memory formation

Dopamine plays a more complex and precise role in brain function than previously thought: it not only enhances neural activity, but regulates inhibitory circuits that determine which signals are suppressed and which are fixed in memory. This was reported on January 14 in the journal Medical Xpress.

For decades, dopamine has been viewed as a key reward molecule directly linked to motivation, pleasure, and learning. In popular and scientific interpretations, increased dopamine levels have often been associated with improved memory and cognitive function. However, a new study shows that this approach simplifies the real picture.

As scientists have established, dopamine acts primarily as a precise regulator of inhibitory neural circuits in the hippocampus, an area of the brain critical for learning and memory consolidation. Instead of overall signal amplification, it helps determine which neural connections should be silenced and which ones should be strengthened, providing the balance needed for effective information processing.

According to Katarzyna Lebida, researcher at the Department of Biophysics and Neurobiology at the Wroclaw Medical University, dopamine has a highly selective effect on specific types of interneurons and, accordingly, on individual inhibitory circuits. It's not about increasing or decreasing braking overall, but about fine-tuning its accuracy.

The study also confirms that memory is not stored evenly throughout the brain. The formation of so-called memory engrams is associated with selective changes in specific neural networks. Different types of interneurons, including parvalbumin and somatostatin-positive cells, respond differently to dopamine modulation, which highlights the contextual nature of learning mechanisms.

The findings are also important for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders. Dopamine transmission disorders have long been associated with depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, and anxiety disorders. However, the authors suggest that the key problem may lie not in the level of dopamine per se, but in the loss of accuracy of its effect on specific neural circuits.

According to the researchers, this opens up prospects for more precise therapeutic approaches that focus not on a general change in the dopamine background, but on selectively adjusting its effect on certain cell types and forms of synaptic plasticity.

Last November, the journal Science Daily reported that sleep-related breathing disorders that remain untreated can almost double the likelihood of developing Parkinson's disease. The team examined patient data from 1999 to 2022. The study included over 11 million people, making it one of the most extensive studies on the effects of nocturnal respiratory disorders.

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