Neural synapses

Picrotoxin, a potent antagonist of 7-aminobutyric acid at neural synapses, has been synthesized from (R)-(-) carvone as SM-goal (Sections 3.1 and 6.5). 

Somlyo Moving away from the intestine, I seem to remember that many years ago Geoff Burnstock convinced a poor electron microscopist to serially section a smooth muscle cell in the vas deferens, which he thought would be about 25 jim long. It turned out to be several times longer than this, and they showed that in the vas deferens smooth muscle there were neural synapses. 

Nerve agent Chemical agent inhaled, absorbed through the skin, or ingested that causes interference with the neural synapses and overstimulation of the nervous system, which in turn leads to overreactivity in the muscles and malfunctioning of various organs. The primary agents are tabun, sarin, soman, and VX. 

GB interferes with neural synapses. It causes overstimulation of the nervous system, which in turn causes over-reactivity in the muscles and malfunctioning of various body organs. Exposure to GB will result in massive congestion of enzymes and fluids in all the major organs, throughout the nervous system, and within the brain. Those who survive exposure may suffer permanent neurological damage.1... 

Interference with neural synapses Initial treatment is antidote consisting of atropine and... 

Cumulative agent Interference with neural synapses Over-stimulation of nervous system Malfunctioning of various body organs Massive congestion of body enzymes and fluids in all major organs of nervous system, particularly brain Death... 

AH of the nerve agents under consideration are anticholinesterase compounds and induce accumulation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) at neural synapses and neuromuscular junctions by phosphorylating acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Depending on the route of exposure and amount absorbed, the PNS and/or CNS can be affected and muscarinic and/or nicotinic receptors may be stimulated. Interaction with other esterases may also occur, and direct effects to the nervous system have been observed. 

Nerve impulses are transmitted through the synaptic gap via chemical signals in the form of a specialized group of chemicals termed neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters can also pass the neural impulse on to glands and muscles. Except where the neural synapses terminates on a muscle (neuromuscular synapse) or a gland (neuroglandular synapse), the synaptic gap is bordered by a presynaptic terminal portion of one neurcn and the dendrite of the postsynaptic neurcn. 

HT is a major player in depressive illness, and serotonergic pathways are closely related to mood disorders, especially depression (Fig. 21.1) (11,47). Thus, drugs affecting the 5-HT levels in the neural synapse and serotonergic pathways may lead to effective therapy of depression. 

Currently, two drugs have been approved for use in treating Alzheimer s disease. Tacrine and Aricept, which treat some of the associated memory loss. Both drugs function by inhibiting the reuptake of acetylcholine in neural synapses. 

Artificial neural networks Hardware and software that are based on a model of neural synapse data processing. 

High concentrations of ascorbic acid in brain can be found in catecholamine-rich regions. However, there is no evidence of a close correlation of catecholamines to ascorbic acid (Mefford et al., 1981). The ascorbic acid concentrations of heart, skeletal muscle, and many other organs of vitamin C-dependent vertebrates decreases rapidly in ascorbic acid deficiency. This observation does not hold true for the brain, which shows a very delayed avitaminosis. This indicates an important role of ascorbic acid in neural metabolism. Since ascorbic acid could be determined mainly in neural synapses, it seems evident that the vitamin participates in neurotransmission. In vitro experiments showed that ascorbic acid initiates the calcium-dependent release of acetylcholine (Pinchasi et al., 1979). 

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