Comment · Wed, November 27, 2013 · Ceretropic
Is there a limited amount of dopamine your brain can produce each day?
Original post in this thread
Skanzi · 3 points
Let's say you take a shitload of phenylalanine and/or tyrosine each day, will there still be a limit to how much dopamine your body and brain can make out of it? I really can't imagine that you would be in an euphoric state all day long by constantly taking tyrosine or phenylalanine capsules every hour.
I problably don't get the concept of how these supplements work on your dopamine levels, but it's got to be limited somewhere.
But if so, where is that limit, and what does the intake do to your serotonine levels?
And... Would it be a good idea to maximize the amount of dopamine released in your brain each day? What i noticed with listening to music, is that after taking a supplement with phenylalanine and tyrosine in it (not a huge amount), the music sounded fucking great for about 5-10 minutes, after that it sounded quite good still for 10 minutes, and then it kinda got boring. The drop of 'Love goes down' By dr P was phenomenal (My headphones are veryyy good btw). So that's a good way to use/deplete your dopamine levels i'd say. After that i noticed that i really didn't enjoy other things anymore for about 30 minutes. Didn't even feel close to depressed or sad or anything, bu…
What they were answering
smt1 · 3 points
Typically, the rate limiting step for the production of DA & NE is activity of tyrosine hydroxylase (which aids the conversion of tyrosine -> L-DOPA). For serotonin, the rate limiting step is typically is the activity of L-amino-acid decarboxylase (which aids the conversion of tryptophan -> 5-htp). This is why food is significantly more side effect free than subverting the rate limiting steps by taking L-DOPA or 5-htp.
I include typically because the activity of these enzymes can upregulate and downregulate based on downstream activity.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Tryptophan hydroxylase is what converts tryptophan to 5-HTP. Aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase is what converts both L-DOPA and 5-HTP to dopamine and serotonin respectively. They share the same enzyme in the final conversion step. The most rate-limiting step in dopamine synthesis is phenylalanine hydroxylase. That is why taking L-tyrosine can raise dopamine levels fairly well.