Neurotransmitters Biochemistry - Synthesis and structures of Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Acetylcholine, Histamine and Serotonin

 

Neurotransmitters are referred to as the body's chemical messengers. They are the molecules used by the nervous system to transmit messages between neurons, or from neurons to muscles. 

The video below gives a detailed teaching on Neurotransmitters

Answers to Practice Questions

1. Catecholamines are responsible for sympathetic response, that is they increase heart rate, dilate pupils, reduce GIT secretions,etc

2. Acetylcholine is the chief neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the autonomic nervous system (a branch of the peripheral nervous system) that contracts smooth muscles, dilates blood vessels, increases bodily secretions, and slows heart rate. Acetylcholine can stimulate a response or block a response and thus can have excitatory or inhibitory effects.

3. Serotonin is the key hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness. This hormone impacts your entire body. It enables brain cells and other nervous system cells to communicate with each other. Serotonin also helps with sleeping, eating, and digestion. 

3b. Histamine oncce released from its granules, histamine produces many varied effects within the body, including the contraction of smooth muscle tissues of the lungs, uterus, and stomach; the dilation of blood vessels, which increases permeability and lowers blood pressure; the stimulation of gastric acid secretion in the stomach; and the acceleration of heart rate. Histamine also serves as a neurotransmitter, carrying chemical messages between nerve cells

4.  Catecholamines are produced or synthesized mostly in the adrenal medulla

Acetylcholine nerve endings of various nerves mostly parasympathetic nerves

Serotonin mostly in the CNS, also in the GIT

Histamine in mast cells