It is always stimulating when classes overlap in material covered. I found our last class on neurotransmitters to be interesting because earlier this week in my BioPsychology class we discussed ways to interfere with/manipulate neurotransmitter activity. Neurotransmitters are chemicals stored in vesicles at the end of each neuron. Once an electrical signal is propagated to the end of the neuron, the depolarization opens up these vesicles and neurotransmitters are released in order to bind to and fire the next neuron. The firing of these neurons are responsible for our emotions and reactions to situations i.e. fear, sadness, happiness. Sometimes these neuron circuits fire too frequently; sometimes they don’t fire enough.
As was discussed in class, amino acids are used as precursors for making neurotransmitters, with the help of enzymes. For instance: Phenylalanine (from your diet,) tyrosine and dopa are used to make dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Tryptophan(from your diet) and 5-hydroxytryptophan are used to make serotonin.
For drug designers who make anti-depressants and other psychotropic medications, their major endeavor is finding efficient, effective ways to manipulate neurotransmitter activity with the desired effect, while minimizing side effects as much as possible. It turns out one way we can directly manipulate our own n.t. activity includes what kinds of proteins we eat, which might be heavy in ingredients such as phenylalanine and tryptophan.