Psych C61

Where does acetylcholine come from?

Week 5 Notes

Neurotransmitters:

● Acetylcholine (ACh)

○ Found in-

■ Parasympathetic nervous system

■ Neuromuscular junction (NMJ)

■ Brain

○ Produced by-

■ Basal forebrain nuclei

■ Midbrain pontine nuclei

● Serotonin

○ Produced by-

■ Raphe nucleus

● Dopamine

○ Produced by-

■ Ventral tegmentum Don't forget about the age old question of How is elimination method used in most formulas?

■ Substantia nigra

● Norephrine

○ Produced by-

■ Locus coeruleus

- All of these neurotransmitters are produced by isolated clusters of neurons that are then released to extensive parts of the body

What is the role of norepinephrine?

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- Glutamate and GABA are produced everywhere

Blood Brain Barrier (BBB)

● Tiny gaps between blood vessel cell walls

● Blood vessel cells in the brain don’t have these gaps

● In order to cross blood brain barrier there needs to be some sort of mechanism ○ Transport:

■ Glucose sugar, some amino acids

○ Diffusion:

■ Lipophilic and hydrophobic molecules can diffuse through the lipid bilayer cell wall

Toxins:

● Botulinum toxin (Botox)

○ Associated with bacterium clostridium botulinum

○ Taken up into ACh presynaptic terminals

○ Interferes with NT release

○ Reduces effectiveness of ACh at NMJ

○ Can’t infiltrate blood brain barrier

What is botulinum toxin used for?

○ Typical dosage

■ ~100 units

● 1 unit = .05 ng

● 5 billionth of a gram

○ Human LD50

■ ~2ng/kg

■ Death from paralysis of respiration

● Tetrodotoxin (TTX)

○ Found in pufferfish

○ Blocks voltage gated sodium channels

○ Doesn’t cross blood brain barrier

○ Peripheral nerves unable to generate normal action potentials

■ Symptoms:

● Numbness If you want to learn more check out How does an organism defend itself?

● Muscle weakness

● Paralysis

○ Death by respiratory paralysis

● PSP

○ Paralytic shellfish poisoning

○ Saxitoxin

○ Doesn’t cross blood brain barrier

○ Blocks voltage gated sodium channels

● Batrachotoxins

○ Causes voltage gated sodium channels to stay open We also discuss several other topics like What are the aspects of damage limitation in military?
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- All have different methods of altering the voltage gated sodium channels

People:

● Paracelsus (1493-1541)

○ “Everything is a poison. The difference between a poison and a remedy depends on the dose.”

Pharmakon

-Means medicine and poison simultaneously