Arvid Carlsson Nobel Prize Winner in physiology or medicine 2000

In 2000 Professor Emeritus Arvid Carlsson was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research in neuropharmacology. He was recognized for his discovery of dopamine as a signal substance in the brain and that the substance is very important for controlling our movements. No less than 40 years ago, Arvid Carlsson was able to show that dopamine acts as a messenger molecule, and that a lack of this substance resulted in impaired motor ability, such as that associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Clinical studies showed that a substance that is converted in the brain to dopamine - DOPA –dramatically improved motor function for many severely handicapped patients. Even today, this substance is the most efficient treatment available for Parkinson’s Disease.

In 1963, Arvid Carlsson’s studies of the function of dopamine led to yet another scientific breakthrough. He discovered that the drugs that relieve the symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic diseases work by reducing the influence of dopamine in the brain. Arvid Carlsson and his colleagues were also the first to realize that selective strengthening of the signal substance serotonin was an efficient and gentle way of treating depression. Prozac, which revolutionized the treatment of depression and anxiety diseases, is based on this mode of action.

The observation that the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease and psychosis can be relieved by modifying dopamine activity has been critical in understanding these diseases. Even more important, however, is that these studies have shown for the first time that brain function can be influenced by drugs that modulate the signal substances involved in communication between the nerve cells. Virtually all the later research on the use of drugs to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases has been based on this strategy developed by Arvid Carlsson.