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Neurochemicals
A neurochemical is a small organic molecule or peptide that participates in neural activity. The science of neurochemistry studies the functions of neurochemicals. Prominent neurochemicals Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators *Glutamate is the most common neurotransmitter. Most neurons secrete with glutamate or GABA. Glutamate is excitatory, meaning that the release of glutamate by one cell usually causes adjacent cells to fire an action potential. (Note: Glutamate is chemically identical to the MSG commonly used to flavor food.) * GABA is an example of an inhibitory neurotransmitter. * Monoamine neurotransmitters: **Dopamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. It plays a key role in the functioning of the limbic system, which is involved in emotional function and control. It also is involved in cognitive processes associated with movement, arousal, executive function, body temperature regulation, and pleasure and reward, and other processes. **Norepinephrine, also known as noradr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurochemistry
Neurochemistry is the study of chemicals, including neurotransmitters and other molecules such as psychopharmaceuticals and neuropeptides, that control and influence the physiology of the nervous system. This particular field within neuroscience examines how neurochemicals influence the operation of neurons, synapses, and neural networks. Neurochemists analyze the biochemistry and molecular biology of organic compounds in the nervous system, and their roles in such neural processes including cortical plasticity, neurogenesis, and neural differentiation. History While neurochemistry as a recognized science is relatively new, the idea behind neurochemistry has been around since the 18th century. Originally, the brain had been thought to be a separate entity apart from the peripheral nervous system. Beginning in 1856, there was a string of research that refuted that idea. The chemical makeup of the brain was nearly identical to the makeup of the peripheral nervous system. The first l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endocannabinoid System
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a biological system composed of endocannabinoids, which are endogenous lipid-based retrograde neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors (CBRs), and cannabinoid receptor proteins that are expressed throughout the vertebrate central nervous system (including the brain) and peripheral nervous system. The endocannabinoid system remains under preliminary research, but may be involved in regulating physiological and cognitive processes, including fertility, pregnancy, pre- and postnatal development, various activity of immune system, appetite, pain-sensation, mood, and memory, and in mediating the pharmacological effects of cannabis. The ECS plays an important role in multiple aspects of neural functions, including the control of movement and motor coordination, learning and memory, emotion and motivation, addictive-like behavior and pain modulation, among others. Two primary cannabinoid receptors have been identified: CB1, first cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organic Chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; Greeves, N. and Warren, S. (2012) ''Organic Chemistry''. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–15. . Study of structure determines their structural formula. Study of properties includes physical and chemical properties, and evaluation of chemical reactivity to understand their behavior. The study of organic reactions includes the chemical synthesis of natural products, drugs, and polymers, and study of individual organic molecules in the laboratory and via theoretical ( in silico) study. The range of chemicals studied in organic chemistry includes hydrocarbons (compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen) as well as compounds based on carbon, but also containing other elements, especially oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus (included in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using energy from sunlight, where it is used to make cellulose in cell walls, the most abundant carbohydrate in the world. In energy metabolism, glucose is the most important source of energy in all organisms. Glucose for metabolism is stored as a polymer, in plants mainly as starch and amylopectin, and in animals as glycogen. Glucose circulates in the blood of animals as blood sugar. The naturally occurring form of glucose is -glucose, while -glucose is produced synthetically in comparatively small amounts and is less biologically active. Glucose is a monosaccharide containing six carbon atoms and an aldehyde group, and is therefore an aldohexose. The glucose molecule can exist in an open-chain (acyclic) as well as ring (cyclic) form. Gluco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neurohypophysial Hormone
The neurohypophysial hormones form a family of structurally and functionally related peptide hormones. Their representatives in humans are oxytocin and vasopressin. They are named after the location of their release into the blood, the neurohypophysis (another name for the posterior pituitary). Most of the circulating oxytocin and vasopressin hormones are synthesized in magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the supraoptic nucleus and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. They are then transported in neurosecretory granules along axons within the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial tract by axoplasmic flow to axon terminals forming the pars nervosa of the posterior pituitary. There, they are stored in Herring bodies and can be released into the circulation on the basis of hormonal and synaptic signals with assistance from pituicytes. Oxytocin mediates contraction of the smooth muscle of the uterus and mammary gland, while vasopressin has antidiuretic An antidiuretic is a subst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orexin-B
Orexin (), also known as hypocretin, is a neuropeptide that regulates arousal, wakefulness, and appetite. The most common form of narcolepsy, type 1, in which the individual experiences brief losses of muscle tone ("drop attacks" or cataplexy), is caused by a lack of orexin in the brain due to destruction of the cells that produce it.Stanford Center for NarcolepsFAQ(retrieved 27-Mar-2012) It exists in the forms of Orexin-A and Orexin-B. There are 50,000–80,000 orexin-producing neurons in the human brain, located predominantly in the perifornical area and lateral hypothalamus. They project widely throughout the central nervous system, regulating wakefulness, feeding, and other behaviours. There are two types of orexin peptide and two types of orexin receptor. Orexin was discovered in 1998 almost simultaneously by two independent groups of researchers working on the rat brain. One group named it orexin, from ''orexis,'' meaning "appetite" in Greek; the other group named it hypo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orexin-A
Orexin-A, also known as hypocretin-1, is a naturally occurring neuropeptide and orexin isoform. The orexinergic nucleus in the lateral hypothalamus is the primary orexin projection system in the brain. Structure Orexin-A is a peptide composed of 33 amino acids including an N-terminal pyroglutamyl residue and two intramolecular disulfide bridges between cysteine residues in 6 and 12 and 7 and 14 positions. The amino acid sequence is: Pyroglu-Pro-Leu-Pro-Asp-Cys-Cys-Arg-Gln-Lys-Thr-Cys-Ser-Cys-Arg-Leu-Tyr-Glu-Leu-Leu-His-Gly-Ala-Gly-Asn-His-Ala-Ala-Gly-Ile-Leu-Thr-Leu. Mechanism Orexins are highly excitatory neuropeptides that were first discovered in the brains of rats. It is a peptide that is produced by a very small population of cells in the lateral and posterior hypothalamus. Orexins strongly excite various brain nuclei (neurons) to affect an organism's wakefulness by affecting their dopamine, norepinephrine, histamine and acetylcholine systems. These systems work together to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orexin
Orexin (), also known as hypocretin, is a neuropeptide that regulates arousal, wakefulness, and appetite. The most common form of narcolepsy, type 1, in which the individual experiences brief losses of muscle tone ("drop attacks" or cataplexy), is caused by a lack of orexin in the brain due to destruction of the cells that produce it.Stanford Center for NarcolepsFAQ(retrieved 27-Mar-2012) It exists in the forms of Orexin-A and Orexin-B. There are 50,000–80,000 orexin-producing neurons in the human brain, located predominantly in the perifornical area and lateral hypothalamus. They project widely throughout the central nervous system, regulating wakefulness, feeding, and other behaviours. There are two types of orexin peptide and two types of orexin receptor. Orexin was discovered in 1998 almost simultaneously by two independent groups of researchers working on the rat brain. One group named it orexin, from ''orexis,'' meaning "appetite" in Greek; the other group named it hypo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eicosanoid
Eicosanoids are signaling molecules made by the enzymatic or non-enzymatic oxidation of arachidonic acid or other polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) that are, similar to arachidonic acid, around 20 carbon units in length. Eicosanoids are a sub-category of oxylipins, i.e. oxidized fatty acids of diverse carbon units in length, and are distinguished from other oxylipins by their overwhelming importance as cell signaling molecules. Eicosanoids function in diverse physiological systems and pathological processes such as: mounting or inhibiting inflammation, allergy, fever and other immune responses; regulating the abortion of pregnancy and normal childbirth; contributing to the perception of pain; regulating cell growth; controlling blood pressure; and modulating the regional flow of blood to tissues. In performing these roles, eicosanoids most often act as autocrine signaling agents to impact their cells of origin or as paracrine signaling agents to impact cells in the proximity of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cannabinoids
Cannabinoids () are several structural classes of compounds found in the cannabis plant primarily and most animal organisms (although insects lack such receptors) or as synthetic compounds. The most notable cannabinoid is the phytocannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (delta-9-THC), the primary intoxicating compound in cannabis. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a major constituent of temperate Cannabis plants and a minor constituent in tropical varieties. At least 113 distinct phytocannabinoids have been isolated from cannabis, although only four (i.e., THCA, CBDA, CBCA and their common precursor CBGA) have been demonstrated to have a biogenetic origin. It was reported in 2020 that phytocannabinoids can be found in other plants such as rhododendron, licorice and liverwort, and earlier in Echinacea. Phytocannabinoids are multi-ring phenolic compounds structurally related to THC, but endocannabinoids are fatty acid derivatives. Nonclassical synthetic cannabinoids (cannabimimetics) include amin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitric Oxide
Nitric oxide (nitrogen oxide or nitrogen monoxide) is a colorless gas with the formula . It is one of the principal oxides of nitrogen. Nitric oxide is a free radical: it has an unpaired electron, which is sometimes denoted by a dot in its chemical formula In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ... (•N=O or •NO). Nitric oxide is also a heteronuclear diatomic molecule, a class of molecules whose study spawned early modern molecular orbital theory, theories of chemical bonding. An important Reaction intermediate, intermediate in chemical industry, industrial chemistry, nitric oxide forms in combustion systems and can be generated by lightning in thunderstorms. In mammals, including humans, nitric oxide is a signaling molecule in many physiological and pathological pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acetylcholine
Acetylcholine (ACh) is an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals (including humans) as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Parts in the body that use or are affected by acetylcholine are referred to as cholinergic. Substances that increase or decrease the overall activity of the cholinergic system are called cholinergics and anticholinergics, respectively. Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter used at the neuromuscular junction—in other words, it is the chemical that motor neurons of the nervous system release in order to activate muscles. This property means that drugs that affect cholinergic systems can have very dangerous effects ranging from paralysis to convulsions. Acetylcholine is also a neurotransmitter in the autonomic nervous system, both as an internal transmitter for the sympathetic nervous system and as the final product released by the parasymp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
