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Dopamine Metabolites and Violence
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Van Winkle's Theory
In 2001 Elnora van Winkle, a brilliant retired neuroscientist, published a paper in Medical Hypotheses. Her hypothesis is that a toxic metabolite of dopamine can cause a violent mind. This theory is very good for a number of reasons. In the movie "Awakenings", based on the Oliver Sacks book, Leonard, played by Robert DeNiro, was taking large dosages of L-dopa. He was having adverse side effects, including bizarre tics and psychological symptoms. He became argumentative and paranoid. Although this was a movie, it reflected reality. Such side effects are in fact seen. The drug L-dopa is the direct precursor of dopamine. Other theories have involved adrenaline, which is considered a fight-or-flight chemical. Although adrenaline is a metabolite of dopamine, little adrenaline is found in the brain. This fact has caused adrenaline theories to wane in popularity.
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This photo shows Marilyn & Sam Sheppard. Marilyn was later murdered in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Sheppard residence. Dr. Sheppard was falsely convicted of the crime on the basis of circumstantial evidence. This spawned the TV series "The Fugitive".
This was the police sketch of the bushy-haired intruder described by Samuel.
Shown here is attorney F. Lee Bailey, who took Sheppard's case.
Sam Sheppard was acquitted. Shown here is the real killer, Richard Eberling, with a toupee.
Shown here is Dr. Arnold Pick of Germany, who was born in 1854. Pick was a psychiatrist and neuropathologist, like Alzheimer. Pick found pathology in a type of dementia which was later named after him.
Sam was an osteopath. He claimed that an intruder did it.
Shown here is Richard Eberling, who was found with Marilyn Sheppard's ring. It seems he had been a window washer for the Sheppard's home.
Sam Sheppard got a new trial.
Shown here is Dr. Walther Spielmeyer, a brilliant German neuropathologist. Spielmeyer felt that a study in which there were no positive findings in the brain in mental disease meant little. It merely meant that the positive findings had not yet been discovered. Spielmeyer was the heir to Alzheimer's work.
Shown here is the pathway of catecholamine synthesis as shown in the Hamilton-Timmons website. It is in this pathway that the chemicals of anger and rage are thought to be produced.