Is There a Link Between Dopamine Levels and Epilepsy?

Dopamine is chemical that produced in different parts of brain and plays an important function in brain - including movement, cognition, and motivation. Studies have also shown a link between dopamine and certain neurological disorders.

For instance, a lack of dopamine can cause symptoms consistent with Parkinson’s disease and an overproduction of dopamine in the brain can cause symptoms consistent with schizophrenia. It is also thought that, since dopamine may play a role in certain neurological diseases, it may play a role in epilepsy, too.

Finding the role that dopamine plays in the epilepsy has been very challenging. However, new information indicates that, in certain types of epilepsy, dopamine could contribute to some of the symptoms seen in these individuals. This is a very early finding in epilepsy research and requires a lot of more work, but researchers are hopeful about this exciting new finding that hopefully open more doors as how to treat this challenging condition.