1. Neurotransmitter Systems
Faculty of Medicine
Dr Zaïd Mansour
Neurotransmitter Systems

2. Dale's principle: a neuron has only one neurotransmitter (cholinergic,
criteria that must be met for a molecule to be considered a neurotransmitter:
The molecule must be synthesized and stored in the presynaptic neuron.
The molecule must be released by the presynaptic axon terminal upon stimulation.
The molecule, when experimentally applied, must produce a response in the postsynaptic cell that mimics the response produced by the release of neurotransmitter from the presynaptic neuron.
Neurotransmitters:
amino acids
amines derived from amino acids
peptides constructed from amino acids
Dale's principle: a neuron has only one neurotransmitter (cholinergic,
glutamatergic, GABAergic, -----).
Exception: Many peptide-containing neurons usually release more than one
neurotransmitter: an amino acid or amine and a peptide. When two or more
transmitters are released from one nerve terminal, they are called co-transmitters.

3. Neurotransmitter systems:
Cholinergic Neurons
Catecholaminergic Neurons
Serotonergic Neurons
Amino Acidergic Neurons
Other NTs

4. Cholinergic Neurons:
- Acetylcholine (ACh) is the neurotransmitter at the neuromuscular junction and therefore is synthesized by all the motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain stem.
- Other cholinergic cells contribute to the functions of specific circuits in the PNS and CNS.
- ChAT is manufactured in the soma and transported to the axon terminal.
- Only cholinergic neurons contain ChAT.
- Rate limiting step: the transport of choline into the neuron.
- AChE can be synthesized by some noncholinergic neurons.

5. Catecholaminergic Neurons: Dopamine Epinephrine Norepinephrine
Catecholaminergic neurons are found in regions
of the nervous system involved in the regulation
of movement, mood, attention, and visceral function.
Catechol group

6. The activity of TH is the rate-limiting step for catecholamine synthesis.
The catecholamine systems have no fast extracellular degradative enzyme analagous to AChE.
Instead, the actions of catecholamines in the synaptic cleft are terminated by selective uptake of the neurotransmitters back into the axon terminal via Na-dependent transporters.
-This step is sensitive to a number of different drugs.
-For example. amphetamine and cocaine block catecholamine uptake and therefore prolong the actions of the neurotransmitter in the cleft.
-Once inside, the axon terminal, the catecholamines may be reloaded into synaptic vesicles for reuse, or they may be enzymatically destroyed by the action of monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme found on the outer membrane of mitochondria.

7. Serotonergic Neurons:
5 HT
Brain systems that regulate mood,
emotional behavior, and sleep.
-Serotonin synthesis appears to be limited
by the availability of tryptophan in the blood.
-Following release from the axon terminal, 5-HT is
removed from the synaptic cleft by the action of
a specific transporter. The process of serotonin
reuptake, like catecholamine reuptake, is sensitive
to a number of different drugs.
For example,
several clinically useful antidepressant drugs,
including fluoxetine (Prozac) are selective inhibitors of serotonin reuptake.
Once it is back in the cytosol of the serotonergic axon terminal, the transmitter is either reloaded into synaptic vesicles or degraded by MAO.

8. Amino Acidergic Neurons:
Glutamate (Glu), glycine (Gly), and gamma- aminobutyric acid (GABA).
The precursor for GABA is glutamate, and the key synthesizing enzyme is glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD).
In one chemical step, the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain is converted into the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.
The synaptic actions of the amino acid neurotransmitters are terminated by selective uptake into the presynaptic terminals and glia via specific Na+ -dependent transporters.
Inside the terminal or glial cell GABA is metabolized by the enzyme GABA transaminase.

9. Other NTs: ATP. NO Endocannabinoids (retrograde signaling):
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-like NT (Cannabis effects)
Vigorous firing of action potentials in the
postsynaptic neuron causes voltage-gated calcium
channels to open, Ca2+ enters the cell in large
quantities, and intracellular [Ca2+] rises.
The elevated [Ca2+] then stimulates the synthesis
of endocannabinoid molecules from membrane lipidss.
Characteristics of endocannabinoid:
They are not packaged in vesicles like most other neurotransmitters; instead, they are manufactured rapidly and on-demand.
2. They are small and membrane pecrneable; once synthesized, they can diffuse rapidly across the membrane of their cell of origin to contact neighboring cells.
3. They bind selectively to the CB 1 type of cannabinoid receptor, which is mainly located on certain presynaptic tecminals.
CB1 receptors are G-protein-coupled receptors, and their main effect is to reduce the opening of presynaptic calcium channels. With its calcium channels inhibited, the ability of the presynaptic terminal to release its neurotransmitter (usually GABA or glutamate) is impaired.

10. Transmitter-gated channels
Glutamate-gated channels:
AMPA, NMDA and Kainate channels.
An impulse arriving in the presynaptic terminal
causes the release of glutamate.
(b) Glutamate binds to
AMPA- gated and
NMDA-gated channels
in the postsynaptic membrane.
(c) The entry of Na+ through
the AMPA channels and
Na+ and Ca2+ through
the NMDA channels,
causes an EPSP.

11. NMDA-gated channels are permeable to Ca2+
inward ionic current through NMDA-gated channels is voltage dependent.
NMDA-gated channel:
Glutamate alone causes the channel to open, but at the resting membrane potential, the pore becomes blocked by Mg2+ ions.
Depolarization of the membrane relieves the Mg2+ block and allows Na+ and Ca2+ to enter.
Calcium entry through NMDA-gated channels may
cause the changes that lead to long-term memory
Excitotoxicity in ALS & AD !

12. GABA-gated and Glycine-gated channels:
Mediate synaptic inhibition in the CNS
Synaptic inhibition must be tightly regulated in the brain. Too much causes a loss of consciousness and coma; too little leads to a seizure.
Benzodiazepines and Barbiturates
By themselves, these drugs do very little to the channel. But when GABA is present, benzodiazepines increase the frequency of channel openings, while barbiturates increase the duration of channel openings.
-The result in each case is more inhibitory chloride current, stronger IPSPs.

13. G protein-coupled receptors

14. In its inactive state, the α subunit of the G-protein binds GDP
(b) When activated by a G-protein-coupled receptor, the GDP is exchanged for GTP
(c) The activated G-protein splits, and both the Gα (GTP) subunit and the Gβγ subunit become available to activate effector proteins,
(d) The Gα subunit slowly removes phosphate (PO4 ) from GTP. converting GTP to GDP and terminating its own activity.

15. G protein-coupled receptors
1) The Shortcut Pathway.
2) Second Messenger Cascades.
The Shortcut Pathway
Muscarinic receptors in the heart.
Neuronal GABA(B) receptors

16. Second Messenger Cascades
PKA phosphorylates the cell's voltage-gated calcium channels, and this enhances their activity. More Calcium flows, and the heart beats more strongly.
By contrast, the stimulation of β-adrenergic receptors in many neurons seems to have no effect on calcium channels, but instead causes inhibition of certain potassium channels. Reduced K+ conductance causes a slight depolarization and makes the neuron more excitable

17. Divergence and convergence
Divergence: the ability of one transmitter to activate more than one subtype of receptor, and cause more than one type of postsynaptic response
Convergence: multiple transmitters, each activating their own receptor type, can converge to affect the same effector systems.
divergence
Neurons integrate divergent and convergent signaling systems, resulting in a complex map of chemical effects.
The wonder is that it ever works; the challenge is to understand how.
convergence