Essay about Neurotransmitters

The cerebral cortex directs functions like speech, behavior, reactions, movement, thinking, and learning. In fact, some research suggests that bipolar disorder originates with problems with the thalamus, which links sensory input to good and bad feelings. The hippocampus also affects depression. It, like the amygdala, is part of the limbic system. It is vital in processing long-term memory. This section of the brain registers recurring fear. In people with clinical depression, the hippocampus is much smaller. Research suggests, even, that ongoing exposure to stress impairs the growth of nerve cells in this part of the brain. One of the most important jobs of the brain is to process senses, through neurons. Neurotransmitters are specific substances that help relay information to the brain. Scientists have identified many neurotransmitters that affect depression. A lack or excess of the neurotransmitters acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, glutamate, lithium carbonate and gamma-aminobutyric acid are thought to contribute to depression. Acetylcholine is involved in learning and enhances memory. Serotonin helps regulate sleep, appetite, and mood, and inhibits pain. Research shows the idea that many depressed people have reduced levels of serotonin. Low levels of a byproduct of serotonin have been linked to a high risk for suicide. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter which constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure. An excess in

There are three ways in which a drug can affect a neurotransmission, such its synthesis, storage, and release. An agonist drug that affects synthesis would monoamine oxidase inhibitors because they inhibit the breakdown of serotonin at the serotonin neural

|  These are chemicals that transmit signals across a synapse from one neuron to another neuron. Most neurotransmitters are about the size of larger proteins or peptides.

When substances like Acetylcholine (Ach) and norepinephrine which are small- molecular neurotransmitters are released into the body they bind to receptors on tissue or neurons through our ANS and PNS system. Ach is released by many PNS neurons and some CNS neurons. In the PNS Ach is an excitatory neurotransmitter at some synapses, such as the neuromuscular junction where it binds to ionotropic receptors which open cation channels. Ach can also be an inhibitory neurotransmitter at other synapses, where it binds to metabotropic receptors while opening potassium channels. The enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inactivates Ach by splitting into acetate and choline fragments. Norepinephrine (NE) is a biogenic amine; most biogenic amines may cause

The main components of the synapses are as follows: The Axon terminal, found at the end of the Axon, passes neurotransmitters to other neurons via synaptic transmission. Synaptic Vesicles contain neurotransmitters within the Axon. Neurotransmitters themselves are chemical messengers that travel through the neurons and activate receptors on the receiving cell. The neurotransmitters are diffused through the synaptic cleft—a region between the two neurons and gap the neurotransmitter needs to cross to make it to the receiving cell. Said receiving cell is what receives the neurotransmitters and starts the process over again. The receptors on the cell are structures that receive the neurotransmitters and

Most people usually think of the brain or heart being the most important part of our body. While they are indeed important, they would be entirely useless if certain substances called neurotransmitters didn’t exist. Neurotransmitters are substances in our body that carry signals from one nerve cell to another. Without these neurotransmitters in our body, we wouldn’t receive crucial signals such as telling our heart to beat. Six of the most common neurotransmitters in our body are dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

Other drugs, such as amphetamine or cocaine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals. This disruption produces

A neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger that travels across the synapse between a neuron and another neuron, muscle fiber, or gland. Hormone is a chemical messenger of the endocrine system that is released by a gland or organ and travels through the blood. Neurotransmitter and hormone both compare because they both are chemical messenger, both chemicals are released from vessels into the surrounding fluid by similar mechanisms. They both work by binding to receptors on target cells. Neurotransmitter and hormones are very important systems, which regulate the various activities of the body, and are dependent on the release of special chemicals. Furthermore, the tissues in the Central Nervous System produce some hormones, as well as the neurotransmitters. What sets neurotransmitter and hormone apart? Neurotransmitters belong to the nervous system, however hormones belong to the endocrine system. Hormones and neurotransmitters are engendered differently; hormones are engendered by endocrine glands while neurotransmitters are engendered by neurons. The transmission of neurotransmitters is across the synaptic cleft, whereas that of hormones is by blood. Hormones are able to regulate their target organs, whereas neurotransmitters are able to stimulate the postsynaptic membranes. The action of neurotransmitters is extremely fast, which could be up to a few milliseconds. In contrast, effect of hormones could be lost for a long period, which could be in the range of few seconds to a few days.

The end of the axon spread into some shorter fibers that have swellings on the ends called synaptic knobs. The synaptic knob has a number of little saclike structures in it called synaptic vesicles. Inside the synaptic vesicles are chemicals hung in fluid, which are molecules of substances called neurotransmitters which are inside a neuron and are going to transmit a message. Neurotransmitter are released into the synapse from synaptic vesicles. The neurotransmitter molecules bind to receptor sites on the releasing neuron and the second neuron or glands or even muscles causing a reaction.

In a normal and healthy nervous system, many electrical signals are received and sent through neurons. The arrival of those signals at the end of the neuron triggers the release of many chemicals, in specific, neurotransmitters (Brooker, 2011). These chemicals travel into a gap between the presynaptic (end of one neuron) and the beginning of he postsynaptic (next neuron). This gap is named a synapse (Brooker, 2011). Neurotransmitters are then released into the synapse and then bind to the ibid (post -synaptic neuron). When this

Another major problem with the dopamine theory is that it only takes into consideration a single neurotransmitter and neglect the roles of other neurotransmitters in schizophrenia. The findings are inconsistent where some findings proposed that the abnormality causes the availability of dopamine transporters changed, and effect to the increased or decreased of dopamine level (Fusar-Poli, and Meyer-Lindenberg, 2012), while some other findings suggested that there are other neurotransmitter such as glutamine which involved in excitatory response in the brain has played a role in resulting cognitive deficits of schizophrenia (Stone, Howes, Egerton, Kambeitz, Allen, Lythgoe, et al, 2010). These assumptions have allowed researchers to implicate schizophrenia by using another pathway or biochemical mechanism other than dopamine hypothesis or dopaminergic

The neurotransmitter Substance P is a small peptide that transmits pain signals from the sensory nerves to the central nervous system, also peptides are small chains of amino acids. It has also been associated with the regulation of stress and anxiety. Substance P is thought to contribute to such painful disorders as arthritis and fibromyalgia, it is also found in spinal cord and brain. A neuropeptide are short-chain polypeptides are involved in mediating sensations and emotional responses, such as pleasure, pain, thirst, and hunger. Examples are compounds called endorphins, which are a group of hormones secreted within the brain and nervous system. Endorphins mediate sensations of pleasure, and substance P, which transmits feelings of pain

Parkinson’s disease is affected by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons which is responsible to produce dopamine. Dopaminergic neurons have their cell bodies in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) in basal ganglia (O’Sullivan and Schmitz, 2007). Basal ganglia are a collection of interconnected gray matter nuclear masses deep within the brain”. These gray matter masses are caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus and the substantia nigra. Basal ganglia receive its input through striatum (O’Sullivan and Schmitz, 2007).

Many psychiatric and psychoactive drugs that are available on the market, pharmaceutically or illegally, closely resemble neurotransmitters and are actually able to mimic it to the extent that it fools the receptors. Basically, these drugs hijack the neurotransmitters. Once these drugs are ingested, it enters into the brain, gets into the synapse and binds itself to the receptor. This then causes the inappropriate release of neurotransmitters and alter the breakdown and recycling of neurotransmitters or can be used to destroy particular neurotransmitters completely (Sapolsky, 2005, p. 14).

As soon as the electrical signal reaches the end of the axon, mechanism of chemical alteration initiates. First, calcium ion spurt into the axon terminal, leading to the release of neurotransmitters “molecules released neurons which carries information to the adjacent cell”. Next, inside the axon terminal, neurotransmitter molecules are stored inside a membrane sac called vesicle. Finally, the neurotransmitter molecule is then discharged in synapse space to be delivered to post synaptic neuron.