Dopamine

Dopamine is a catecholamine and neurotransmitter that can be measured in the blood, and changes in response to the diet or nutritional supplementation.

Our evidence-based analysis features 14 unique references to scientific papers.


Research analysis by and verified by the Examine.com Research Team. Last updated on Apr 29, 2017.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions and answers regarding Dopamine

Q: Does ejaculation affect testosterone levels?

A: Ejaculation results in changes in prolactin (increase) and dopamine (temporary decrease), but does not result in changes in testosterone. Although prolactin and dopamine are both involved with testosterone, they do not appear to influence testosterone levels acutely.

Read full answer to "Does ejaculation affect testosterone levels?"


Q: Do herbal aphrodisiacs work?

A: It depends on the product touted to be an aprhodisiac, but some of them do apparently increase sexual desire; it is a relatively underresearched topic though, and we don't know why they increase sexuality

Read full answer to "Do herbal aphrodisiacs work?"


Human Effect Matrix

The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect dopamine

Grade Level of Evidence
Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials
Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies
Uncontrolled or observational studies only
Level of Evidence
? The amount of high quality evidence. The more evidence, the more we can trust the results.
Outcome Magnitude of effect
? The direction and size of the supplement's impact on each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
Consistency of research results
? Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
Notes
Melatonin
All comparative evidence is now gathered in our ​A-to-Z Supplement Reference.
The evidence for each separate supplement is still freely available ​here.
Mucuna pruriens  
Branched Chain Amino Acids  
Creatine  
Ganoderma lucidum  

Scientific Support & Reference Citations

Via HEM and FAQ:

  1. Exton MS, et al. Endocrine response to masturbation-induced orgasm in healthy men following a 3-week sexual abstinence . World J Urol. (2001)
  2. Jiang M, et al. A research on the relationship between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men . J Zhejiang Univ Sci. (2003)
  3. Krüger T, et al. Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular response to sexual arousal and orgasm in men . Psychoneuroendocrinology. (1998)
  4. Krüger TH, et al. Specificity of the neuroendocrine response to orgasm during sexual arousal in men . J Endocrinol. (2003)
  5. Krüger TH, et al. Effects of acute prolactin manipulation on sexual drive and function in males . J Endocrinol. (2003)
  6. Krüger TH, et al. Orgasm-induced prolactin secretion: feedback control of sexual drive . Neurosci Biobehav Rev. (2002)
  7. Stahl SM. The psychopharmacology of sex, Part 1: Neurotransmitters and the 3 phases of the human sexual response . J Clin Psychiatry. (2001)
  8. Motofei IG, Rowland DL. Neurophysiology of the ejaculatory process: developing perspectives . BJU Int. (2005)
  9. Pharmacotherapy for Premature Ejaculation .
  10. Assessment of erectogenic properties of apomorphine and yohimbine in man .
  11. McMahon CG. Treatment of premature ejaculation with sertraline hydrochloride: a single-blind placebo controlled crossover study . J Urol. (1998)
  12. McMahon CG, Samali R. Pharmacological treatment of premature ejaculation . Curr Opin Urol. (1999)
  13. Krüger TH, Hartmann U, Schedlowski M. Prolactinergic and dopaminergic mechanisms underlying sexual arousal and orgasm in humans . World J Urol. (2005)
  14. Passie T, et al. Ecstasy (MDMA) mimics the post-orgasmic state: impairment of sexual drive and function during acute MDMA-effects may be due to increased prolactin secretion . Med Hypotheses. (2005)

Cite this page

"Dopamine," Examine.com, published on 5 July 2013, last updated on 29 April 2017, https://examine.com/topics/dopamine/