NROB60H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter Chapter 6 HL: Retrograde Signaling, The Shortcut, Alpha Helix
13 Sep 2016
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Some of the brain"s most important chemical reactions are those associated with synaptic transmission: neurotransmitter systems begin with neurotransmitters. Each molecule can define a particular transmitter system. In addition to the molecule itself, a neurotransmitter system includes all the molecular machinery responsible for: transmitter synthesis, vesicular packaging, reuptake, degradation, transmitter action. The first molecule positively identified as a neurotransmitter was acetylcholine (ach: cholinergic is the term used to describe the cells that produce and release ach. Similarly the amine neurotransmitter norepinephrine (ne) is described with the term noradrenergic. As additional neurotransmitters were identified, the convention of using the suffix ergic continued: e. g. glutamatergic synapses used glutamate / gabaergic synapses use / peptidergic synapses use peptides / etc. This terminology is also used to identify the various neurotransmitter systems. Ach and all the molecular machinery associated with it are collectively called the cholinergic system.
