#neurotransmitters

I FIGURED IT OUT

ok so I was doing some homework that required a little research on Solanaceae, which led me to Brazil's white angel trumpet, also known as angel's tears or snowy angel's trumpet. but then I looked at its scientific name...

Brugmansia suaveolens

THATS SOL'S NAME.

ok so I did some further research because I'm a little nerd, and I found out some more stuff that weirdly aligns? forgive me, I'm about to get scientific here.

Brugmansia Suaveolens is a species of nightshade from Brazil. It is extinct in its native area, however is still alive in places it was introduced. It is kept alive through human conservation.

Brugmansia suaveolens is actually nocturnal (sound familiar?), and only releases its scent in the evenings and at night, focusing on attracting only certain pollinators as it is toxic to the majority. It mainly attracts hawk moths, and over time adapted its shape to easily envelop its long proboscis. Brugmansia Suaveolens also partakes in chiropterophily, also known as pollination by bats. Bats are also immune to its poison, and love the high levels of nectar it produces during both of their prime hours. This is also why its primarily white to be more visible during the late hours and its shape is a perfect landing pad for the bat to make an entrance on.

Any part of Brugmansia Suaveolens is VERY poisonous, to the point that touching one's sap can cause temporary blindness. Smelling their extremely sweet perfume can cause nausea and headaches and sometimes respiratory irritation in people with asthma. ingestion can cause loss of consciousness, hallucinations, and comas. In some cases, Brugmansia Suaveolens has claimed the lives of those whom have digested it, often to try to trigger psychedelic effects, PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS IT WILL NOT WORK YOU WILL DIE. The most toxic part of them is especially their seeds and leaves, containing extremely high amounts of scopolamine, hyoscyamine, atropine, and other tropane alkaloids. fun fact, the chemical structure of tropane looks like a pterodactyl :D!!

But the alkaloid I wanna focus on is scopolamine, also called hyoscine or devil's breath. Scopolamine is an antimuscarinic agent, which blocks acetylcholine, an extremely important neurotransmitter and synapse processor, from the nervous system. Acetylcholine acts like a gate, letting in and blocking ion transport. It works in both the central and peripheral nervous system, activating muscle movement and cognitive function. By inhibiting this transmitter, scopolamine inhibits motor function and cognitive function. Scopolamine can thus be used as a drug to incapacitate a victim and has been used, albeit rarely, as a drug for sexual assault and kidnapping.

Dopamine (Ne) is all about exploration, novelty, and active engagement with the world. It’s testing, experimenting, seeing what works, and staying open to multiple perspectives in real time. It’s "what if" thinking, bouncing between ideas, trying them out, and learning through trial and error. This is why the dopamine pathway is short and reactive, driving people to act quickly and be highly responsive to stimuli.

Acetylcholine (Ni) is much more about conception, depth, and refinement. It’s about filtering through possibilities, refining, and finding the most efficient path. This is more about a long-term vision, where you discount distractions and focus on what’s likely to work based on deep internal understanding. Like Ni, acetylcholine works with refined material, builds on past knowledge, and strives for clarity over time. Quality control over quantity. The pathway is longer, as it requires more time for reflection and synthesis.

Norepinephrine (Se) = Sensory Engagement / External Stimulation: Norepinephrine is often about stimulation, arousal, and action in the present moment, which matches Se's focus on immediate sensory input and the world outside. Se engages directly with external stimuli, maximizing the sensory experience—seeing, hearing, touching, and reacting to what's right in front of them, seeking novel or impactful experiences. Norepinephrine similarly drives people to engage with their surroundings, often seeking intensity and excitement. Both want to be in the moment and responsive to the environment.

GABA = Si (Introverted Sensing): GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning it calms down neural activity and contributes to a sense of stability, relaxation, and grounding. This is highly similar to Si, which is about internal sensory recall, stability, and creating a grounded mental state based on past experiences. Just like Si helps us process and stabilize memories and experiences, GABA contributes to calmness and internal balance.

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Ooops. Clickbait. Only the perceiving functions can be directly associated with neurotransmitters but here is why:

Perceiving functions (Ne, Ni, Se, Si) are more fundamental in terms of information gathering and conceptualizing because they deal with raw data, sensory input, and ongoing experience. These are processes that happen almost automatically and are more closely tied to the REACTIONS of the brain to immediate stimuli, which is where neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, GABA, and serotonin come into play.

Judging functions, on the other hand, are higher-order, more abstract, and deal with organizing, categorizing, and deciding how to act on the information the perceiving functions gather. These processes tend to be more cognitive, involving more logical, computational thinking (yes, fi too!), which requires less direct chemical input and is mediated by higher-level brain areas like the prefrontal cortex. They are more internalized, less reactive to real-time input, and more about evaluating and controlling the data.

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But hey! If you really twist my arm, I could associate Fi with serotonin and Fe with oxytocin.

I need someone to help me understand or to point me towards free online material that is scientifically accurate and accessible to people who don't study this field.

(Please don't tell me to use ai:))

✨Some of my questions:✨

1. If "neuron A" releases a neurotransmitter, how does it "know" to go to "neuron B" and not back to A (its receptors) or to a random "neuron C"?

2. Do all neurons release the same neurotransmitters? Do all neurons have the same receptors? If not, how does a neuron "choose" which neurotransmitter to release, and how does it only release that one without others leaking out?

3. People call neurotransmitters "messages", but what does that actually mean mechanistically? Is the "information" just the identity of the molecule (dopamine vs adenosine) or is it something about the pattern of release (timing, frequency)?

4. I know neurons fire electrically, but then we're talking about chemicals in synapses. How do these two systems connect? Does the electrical signal cause the chemical release or are they parallel systems (if yes, how is that possible?)?

5. What is the synaptic cleft physically? How does a molecule find a receptor without "getting lost"?

6. Some explanations I have found use "neuron A -> neuron B" as if it's a one to one connection. What about networks? What's the actual "anatomy"? How does an axon "find" which dendrite to connect to? What does the "wiring" actually look like at the microscopic level?

7. I understand DAT/NET/SERT "vacuum up" neurotransmitters back into the presynaptic neuron, but are there transporters different proteins for each neurotransmitter or one generic "vacuum"? How do they "recognize" the right molecule? What "powers" them? What happens to the neurotransmitter once it's back inside? Where exactly does it go to?

8. How does psychiatry work without "looking inside"? I'm taking methylphenidate for my ADHD and it works, but nobody scanned my brain, checked if my DAT are overactive, if I produce too little dopamine, if my D2 receptors are insensitive or if something's wrong with my synaptic clefts. How does one mechanism (reuptake inhibition) "equalize" for different biological problems? Why does it work for ~80% of people with ADHD?

9. I don't understand what metabolism is:/