Neurotransmitters: Difference between revisions

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Currently, treatment for the disease is aimed at DOPA decarboxylase inhibition. Since dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, it cannot be used to directly treat Parkinson's disease. Thus, exogenously administered L-DOPA is the primary treatment for patients suffering from this neurodegenerative disease. Unfortunately, DOPA decarboxylase rapidly converts L-DOPA to dopamine in the blood stream, with only a small percentage reaching the brain. By inhibiting the enzyme,  greater amounts of exogenously administered L-DOPA can reach the brain, where it can then be converted to dopamine. <ref name="burkhard">PMID:11685243 </ref>. Unfortunately, with continued L-Dopa treatment, up to 80% of patients experience 'wearing-off' symptoms, dyskinesias and other motor complications (referred to as the "on-off phenomenon". <ref name="lees">PMID:1904055 </ref>. Clearly, a better understanding of the catalytic mechanism and enzymatic activity of DDC in both healthy and PD individuals is critical to drug design and treatment of the disease.
Currently, treatment for the disease is aimed at DOPA decarboxylase inhibition. Since dopamine cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, it cannot be used to directly treat Parkinson's disease. Thus, exogenously administered L-DOPA is the primary treatment for patients suffering from this neurodegenerative disease. Unfortunately, DOPA decarboxylase rapidly converts L-DOPA to dopamine in the blood stream, with only a small percentage reaching the brain. By inhibiting the enzyme,  greater amounts of exogenously administered L-DOPA can reach the brain, where it can then be converted to dopamine. <ref name="burkhard">PMID:11685243 </ref>. Unfortunately, with continued L-Dopa treatment, up to 80% of patients experience 'wearing-off' symptoms, dyskinesias and other motor complications (referred to as the "on-off phenomenon". <ref name="lees">PMID:1904055 </ref>. Clearly, a better understanding of the catalytic mechanism and enzymatic activity of DDC in both healthy and PD individuals is critical to drug design and treatment of the disease.
=GABA=
==GABA receptors==
'''GABA''' (i.e. gamma-aminobutyric acid) is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter of the vertebrate central nervous system. GABA can bind one of two different receptor proteins, each using a discrete mechanism to elicit a cellular response. Upon binding with GABA, '''GABAB receptors''' utilize a second messenger amplification pathway that ultimately results in an inhibitory signal for neuronal transmission. This pathway for signal transmission differs from '''GABAA receptors''', which are considered ligand-gated ion channels as the binding of GABA results in the opening of ion channels leading to the inhibition of a neuronal signal.


=Glutamate=
=Glutamate=

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