Neurotransmitters and Their Functions

Primary Functions:
- Enables movement by transmitting signals from motor neurons to muscles.
- Plays a crucial role in learning and memory functions.
- Has a high concentration of ACh receptors located in the hippocampus.
Associated Pathologies and Clinical Conditions:
- Myasthenia Gravis: Characterized by muscle weakness due to the destruction of ACh receptors in muscles.
- Alzheimer's disease: Involves memory loss caused by the deterioration of ACh-producing neurons in the brain.

Primary Functions:
- Assists the brain in coordinating and initiating physical movement.
- Released in response to pleasurable experiences, creating positive feelings that make an individual more likely to repeat that action.
- Influences motivation and goal-directed behavior.
- Influences cognition and executive function.
Effects of Oversupply:
- Schizophrenia: Most likely due to an overabundance of a certain type of dopamine receptor, which makes it easier for dopamine to activate neurons.
Effects of Undersupply and Dysregulation:
- Parkinsons disease: Characterized by tremors and decreased mobility due to the deterioration of dopamine-producing neurons that coordinate movement.
- ADHD: Associated with dopamine dysregulation, though the exact underlying mechanism is not fully understood.

Primary Functions:
- Involved in overall mood regulation.
- Involved in the regulation of sleep and arousal.
- Involved in the regulation of appetite and digestion.
Effects of Undersupply:
- Depression: Linked with depression, although the exact mechanism is not fully understood.
- Anxiety and Mood Disruptions: Linked with anxiety, worry, and nervousness.
- Sleep Dysfunction: Linked with sleep difficulties.

Primary Functions:
- Involved in promoting wakefulness, alertness, and arousal.
- Released in response to stress and helps initiate the fight-or-flight response.
Effects of Oversupply:
- Heightened stress.
- Increased anxiety.
- Associated with manic episodes in bipolar disorder.
Effects of Undersupply:
- Depressed mood.
- Sleep problems.

Primary Functions:
- Serves as the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system.
- Makes it less likely for a neuron to fire an action potential.
- Reduces overall brain activity.

Primary Functions:
- Serves as the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain.
- Makes it more likely for a neuron to fire an action potential.
- Increases overall brain activity.
- Intimately involved in cognitive functions such as learning and memory.

Primary Functions:
- Regulates the perception of pain, acting as the brain's natural opiates.
- Enhances mood, fostering feelings of euphoria and pleasure.

Primary Functions:
- Involved in the perception of pain by transmitting pain signals from the body's skin, muscle, and tissues to the central nervous system.
- Plays an active role in promoting inflammation in response to injury.