opinion | neuroTranSmiTTerS |


NeurotraNsmitters iN ageiNg aNd disease


Peter Charlish explains how neurotransmitters are related to age, disease and physiological function.


receiving and analysing information from yet other cells. T


PETER CHARLISH Principal Analyst, Informa Business Information


email: peter.charlish@informa. com


58 ❚ March 2011 | prime-journal.com


So how do the estimated 100 billion nerve cells in the brain actually communicate with each other? When an electrical impulse propagated along the length of a nerve cell (in fact, a wave of depolarisation between the inside and the outside of the cell) reaches the junction with the next, referred to as the synapse, the two cells use a form of chemical transmission to communicate information. The actual process by which this


happens goes something like this. The arrival of the electrical impulse causes storage bodies in the first nerve cell to release a chemical substance known as a neurotransmitter. This diffuses across the gap between the cells, where it binds to receptors on the surface of the second cell and elicits an appropriate physiological response. The beauty of this system is that different neurotransmitters convey


he famous neurophysiologisT sir Charles sherringTon (1857-1952) compared the brain to “an enchanted loom where millions of flashing shuttles weave a dissolving pattern, always a meaningful pattern though never an abiding one”. The “flashing shuttles” are the are the nerve cells, constantly sending a stream of information to surrounding nerve cells, while at the same time


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