Low dopamine levels can produce opposite changes
Written by Marisa Horak, MS | July 31, 2026
- Parkinson's disease causes varied, even opposite, changes in brain circuits due to low dopamine levels.
- Low dopamine levels correlate with motor symptoms; cognitive issues are linked to abnormalities in brain circuits.
- Monitoring brain circuit activity may help track cognitive problems and treatment response.
Low dopamine levels disrupt nerve circuits in the brain in Parkinson’s disease — but a new study indicates that different brain circuits show different, even opposite, types of changes.
The study’s findings shed new light on how brain circuits are affected by Parkinson’s. The researchers said their data also suggest that looking at brain circuits may be a useful way to monitor certain Parkinson’s symptoms, particularly problems with cognition.
The study, “Dopamine-related alterations in functional brain network dynamic reconfiguration in Parkinson’s disease,” was published in npj Parkinson’s Disease.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a signaling molecule that nerve cells in the brain use to communicate with each other. In Parkinson’s, the brain cells that are normally responsible for producing dopamine sicken and die, resulting in abnormally low dopamine levels.
Low dopamine levels in the brain disrupt neurological signaling, which ultimately gives rise to Parkinson’s symptoms. While this paradigm is well established, scientists don’t fully understand how low dopamine affects all the various neurological circuits throughout the brain.
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