How Do Neurotransmitters work?

Neurotransmitters connect biology and chemistry.

They are connected to chemistry because neurotransmitters are all about chemicals and the chemical balances of the brain and body.

Heart Rate

Breathing

Sleep Cycles

Digestion

Mood/Emotions

Concentration/Focus

Apetite

Muscle Movement

Source: Medical News Today

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326649#functions

Up until around the 20th century, most scientists beleived that the communication of energy in the brain was electrical, but in 1921 a german pharmacologist named Otto Loewi performed an experiment on some frogs, that showed that neurons communicate through chemicals.

In these experiments, Loewi manipulated the vagus nerves of the frogs to slow down their heartbeat by controlling how much saline was in the vagus nerve.

This experiment proved that mediating the chemical concentrations in the body and brain can affect heart functions.

The first known neurotransmitter was acetylcholine.

Source: Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotransmitter

There are things called “synaptic vesicles” in your brain that are located near the membrane in your neurons. Neurotransmitters that are not being used in the moment are stored in those synaptic vesicles waiting to become active.

However, some neurotransmitters, such as metabolic gases (carbon monoxide and nitric oxide) skip this stage, and go i to action immediately, and are never stores in the synaptic vesicles.

Source: Wikipedia ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotransmitter )

Stuctures of different types of neurotransmitters.

Source: https://www.compoundchem.com/

There are four official categories of neurotransmitters, plus one category that is just classified as “other” and encompases everythjng that isnt included in the other four.

These four classes are: Amino Acids, Monoamines, Peptides, and Purines.

Examples:

Amino Acids: glycine, glutamate

Monoamines: serotonin, epinephrine, dopamine

Peptides: substance P, opioids

Purines: ATP, GTP

Other: nitric oxide, carbon monoxide

a chemical substance that is released at the end of a nerve fiber by the arrival of a nerve impulse and, by diffusing across the synapse or junction, causes the transfer of the impulse to another nerve fiber, a muscle fiber, or some other structure.

Source: Google dictionary.

Neurotransmitters are tiny molecules that brains release to tell another part of the brain, or body, what to do.

The cells that receives the neurotransmitter can be from any main part of the body. Typically they are other neurons, but can also be glands or muscles.

Neurotransmitters are released by synaptic vesicles, and go into the synaptic cleft in the cell receiving the neurotransmitter.

The responce that the reciving cell has will depend on the purpose and location of said cell. Receivers in certain parts of the brain can release endorphins such as serotonin or dopamine, but a different part of the brain would release hormones that tell you its time to sleep, such as melatonin. The vast majority of receiving cells in your body are for you muscles though, your brain has to send neurotransmitters down into your muscles so that they know when and how to move. If we didnt have neurotransmitters our muscles would never move and we would forever be stuck completely motionless.

The exact number of neurotransmitters in the human brain is unknown, but well over 100 have been identified so far.