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What are they and how do they work? Of
course everyone reading this already knows :) But it helps to have
a quick reminder to refresh our memory every once in a while.
Having a basic understanding about these special chemicals in our
brain and how they work helps us to understand memory, learning,
behavior, addiction, how drugs work, and emotions.
First we'll quickly go over some of the most important
neurotransmitters.
Acetylcholine: The first neurotransmitter to be
identified. It allows nerve cells to communicate with each other.
Noradrenalin (Norephinephrine): Acts as a stress hormone and
affects the parts of our brain where attention and responding
actions are controlled. It is what is behind the fight-or-flight
response.
Dopamine: Plays an important role in motivation and reward,
sleep, mood, attention, motor activity, cognition and learning.
Endorphin: Helps modulate pain ("natural opiates"), cardiac,
gastric and vascular function.
Serotonin: Believed to help regulate anger, aggression,
mood, sleep, appetite, sexuality and body temperature.
 GABA:
One of the most abundant neurotransmitters. It is an inhibitory
neurotransmitter - inhibiting all sorts of activating systems.
Glutamate: Heightens sensitivity to other neurotransmitters.
An excitatory neurotransmitter involved in cognitive functions like
learning and memory.
So... Neurons pass messages along themselves using electrical
impulses, but they use neurotransmitters to pass messages to other
neurons. Neurotransmitters are released from synaptic
vesicles, flow across gaps between neurons called
synapses and then bind with a receptor on the target
neuron.
How about a slideshow?
 Nerve impulses
reach the end of a neuron and release neurotransmitters into the
synapse
 The neurotransmitter
fits into a receptor site on another neuron like a key
 The vesicle stores
and releases neurotransmitters
 The action
potential is the electrical impulse that travels through the
neuron (along the axon) triggering the release of neurotransmitters
When connections between neurons are not being used, they are cut
back by synaptic pruning.
When connections are increased between neurons that are being used
it is called synaptic sprouting.
When these changes happen it is called synaptic plasticity.
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Neuroscience 
