Neurons send messages to one another by releasing chemicals called _______________

Q: What is the name of chemicals that are released by neurons?

Neurotransmitters are your bodys chemical messengers. They carry messages from one nerve cell across a space to the next nerve, muscle or gland cell.

Neurotransmitters and Neuroactive Peptides

Communication of information between neurons is accomplished by movement of chemicals across a small gap called the synapse. Chemicals, called neurotransmitters, are released from one neuron at the presynaptic nerve terminal. Neurotransmitters then cross the synapse where they may be accepted by the next neuron at a specialized site called a receptor. The action that follows activation of a receptor site may be either depolarization (an excitatory postsynaptic potential) or hyperpolarization (an inhibitory postsynaptic potential). A depolarization makes it MORE likely that an action potential will fire; a hyperpolarization makes it LESS likely that an action potential will fire.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Neurotransmitters and Neuroactive Peptides
Discovery of Neurotransmitters
Otto Loewi's Experiment
Neurotransmitter Criteria
Neurotransmitter Types
Small Molecule Neurotransmitter Substances
Amino Acids
Neuroactive Peptides - partial list only!
Soluble Gases
Synthesis of Neurotransmitters
Transport and Release of Neurotransmitters
Receptor Binding
Inactivation of Neurotransmitters
What is the name of chemicals that are released by neurons?
How neurons communicate with one another?

Discovery of Neurotransmitters

In 1921, an Austrian scientist named Otto Loewi discovered the first neurotransmitter.

In his experiment (which came to him in a dream), he used two frog hearts. One heart (heart #1) was still connected to the vagus nerve. Heart #1 was placed in a chamber that was filled with saline. This chamber was connected to a second chamber that contained heart #2. So, fluid from chamber #1 was allowed to flow into chamber #2. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve (which was attached to heart #1) caused heart #1 to slow down. Loewi also observed that after a delay, heart #2 also slowed down. From this experiment, Loewi hypothesized that electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve released a chemical into the fluid of chamber #1 that flowed into chamber #2. He called this chemical "Vagusstoff". We now know this chemical as the neurotransmitter called acetylcholine.

Otto Loewi's Experiment

Neurotransmitter Criteria

Neuroscientists have set up a few guidelines or criteria to prove that a chemical is really a neurotransmitter. Not all of the neurotransmitters that you have heard about may actually meet every one of these criteria.

Neurotransmitter Types

There are many types of chemicals that act as neurotransmitter substances. Below is a list of some of them.

Small Molecule Neurotransmitter Substances

Acetylcholine (ACh)	Dopamine (DA)	Norepinephrine (NE)
Serotonin (5-HT)	Histamine	Epinephrine

Amino Acids

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)	Glycine	Glutamate
Aspartate

Neuroactive Peptides - partial list only!

bradykinin	beta-endorphin	bombesin	calcitonin
cholecystokinin	enkephalin	dynorphin	insulin
gastrin	substance P	neurotensin	glucagon
secretin	somatostatin	motilin	vasopressin
oxytocin	prolactin	thyrotropin	angiotensin II
sleep peptides	galanin	neuropeptide Y	thyrotropin-releasing hormone
gonadotropnin-releasing hormone	growth hormone-releasing hormone	luteinizing hormone	vasoactive intestinal peptide

Soluble Gases

Nitric Oxide (NO)

Carbon Monoxide

Synthesis of Neurotransmitters

Acetylcholine is found in both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Choline is taken up by the neuron. When the enzyme called choline acetyltransferase is present, choline combines with acetyl coenzyme A (CoA) to produce acetylcholine.

Dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine are a group of neurotransmitters called "catecholamines". Norepinephrine is also called "noradrenalin" and epinephrine is also called "adrenalin". Each of these neurotransmitters is produced in a step-by-step fashion by a different enzyme.

Transport and Release of Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are made in the cell body of the neuron and then transported down the axon to the axon terminal. Molecules of neurotransmitters are stored in small "packages" called vesicles (see the picture on the right). Neurotransmitters are released from the axon terminal when their vesicles "fuse" with the membrane of the axon terminal, spilling the neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft.

Unlike other neurotransmitters, nitric oxide (NO) is not stored in synaptic vesicles. Rather, NO is released soon after it is produced and diffuses out of the neuron. NO then enters another cell where it activates enzymes for the production of "second messengers."

Receptor Binding

Neurotransmitters will bind only to specific receptors on the postsynaptic membrane that recognize them.

Inactivation of Neurotransmitters

The action of neurotransmitters can be stopped by four different mechanisms:

Try it!

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Did you know?

The idea for the famous heart experiment came to Otto Loewi in his sleep. In Loewi's own words:
"In the night of Easter Saturday, 1921, I awoke, turned on the light, and jotted down a few notes on a tiny slip of paper. Then I fell asleep again. It occurred to me at six o'clock in the morning that during the night I had written down something most important, but I was unable to decipher the scrawl. That Sunday was the most desperate day in my whole scientific life. During the next night, however, I awoke again, at three o'clock, and I remembered what it was. This time I did not take any risk; I got up immediately, went to the laboratory, made the experiment on the frog's heart, described above, and at five o' clock the chemical transmission of nervous impulse was conclusively proved." --- quoted from Loewi, O., From the Workshop of Discoveries, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1953.

What is the name of chemicals that are released by neurons?

Neurotransmitters are your body's chemical messengers. They carry messages from one nerve cell across a space to the next nerve, muscle or gland cell.

How neurons communicate with one another?

Nerve cells (i.e., neurons) communicate via a combination of electrical and chemical signals. Within the neuron, electrical signals driven by charged particles allow rapid conduction from one end of the cell to the other.