A Drug That Blocks Dopamine Synapses, Essay Example

Based on the understanding that human infants are first limited to gross movements of the trunks, arms, and legs and that the ability to move one finger at a time develops slowly over the first year, I hypothesize that the premotor cortex is one of the brain areas that controls movement that matures early and that the primary motor cortex matures later. This is likely because the premotor cortex is responsible for the preparation of movement, sensory guidance of movement, and movement of trunk muscles, while the primary motor cortex helps plan and execute more precise movements.

A drug that blocks dopamine synapses would be expected to reduce the early motor symptoms of the disease. Patients with Parkinson’s experience death of the dopamine generating cells and use of dopamine receptor antagonists would prevent some of the associated motor degradation.

Neurologists believe that if individuals live long enough, everyone would develop Parkinson’s. This is due to the fact that as people age, their cells enter senescence, which means that they are not actively growing or replicating. As a consequence, the cells that produce dopamine would not function as effectively as they once did. Therefore, these individuals would experience a dopamine shortage, just as patients with Parkinson’s do.

I would expect jaguars, cheetahs, and other great cats to have mostly fast-twitch, quickly fatiguing muscles because these animals are able to run very quickly when necessary. However, they need to rest because of the strain that this speed causes. Evolutionarily, this helps these cats because they are hunters and need to run quickly when catching food. By the same logic, animals that need to be in constant movement to survive are likely to have slow-twitch, non-fatiguing muscles, such as prey animals.