Wiktionary
n. (context neurotransmitter English) Any of several peptides, such as endorphins, that function as neurotransmitters.
Wikipedia
Neuropeptides are small protein-like molecules ( peptides) used by neurons to communicate with each other. They are neuronal signaling molecules that influence the activity of the brain and the body in specific ways. Different neuropeptides are involved in a wide range of brain functions, including analgesia, reward, food intake, metabolism, reproduction, social behaviors, learning and memory.
Neuropeptides are related to peptide hormones, and in some cases peptides that function in the periphery as hormones also have neuronal functions as neuropeptides. The distinction between neuropeptide and peptide hormone has to do with the cell types that release and respond to the molecule; neuropeptides are secreted from neuronal cells (primarily neurons but also glia for some peptides) and signal to neighboring cells (primarily neurons). In contrast, peptide hormones are secreted from neuroendocrine cells and travel through the blood to distant tissues where they evoke a response. Both neuropeptides and peptide hormones are synthesized by the same sets of enzymes, which include prohormone convertases and carboxypeptidases that selectively cleave the peptide precursor at specific processing sites to generate the bioactive peptides.
Neuropeptides modulate neuronal communication by acting on cell surface receptors. Many neuropeptides are co-released with other small-molecule neurotransmitters. The human genome contains about 90 genes that encode precursors of neuropeptides. At present about 100 different peptides are known to be released by different populations of neurons in the mammalian brain. Neurons use many different chemical signals to communicate information, including neurotransmitters, peptides, and gasotransmitters. Peptides are unique among these cell-cell signaling molecules in several respects. One major difference is that peptides are not recycled back into the cell once secreted, unlike many conventional neurotransmitters (glutamate, dopamine, serotonin). Another difference is that after secretion, peptides are modified by extracellular peptidases; in some cases, these extracellular cleavages inactivate the biological activity, but in other cases the extracellular cleavages increase the affinity of a peptide for a particular receptor while decreasing its affinity for another receptor. These extracellular processing events add to the complexity of neuropeptides as cell-cell signaling molecules.
Many populations of neurons have distinctive biochemical phenotypes. For example, in one subpopulation of about 3000 neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, three anorectic peptides are co-expressed: α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), galanin-like peptide, and cocaine-and-amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART), and in another subpopulation two orexigenic peptides are co-expressed, neuropeptide Y and agouti-related peptide (AGRP). These are not the only peptides in the arcuate nucleus; β-endorphin, dynorphin, enkephalin, galanin, ghrelin, growth-hormone releasing hormone, neurotensin, neuromedin U, and somatostatin are also expressed in subpopulations of arcuate neurons. These peptides are all released centrally and act on other neurons at specific receptors. The neuropeptide Y neurons also make the classical inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.
Invertebrates also have many neuropeptides. CCAP has several functions including regulating heart rate, allatostatin and proctolin regulate food intake and growth, bursicon controls tanning of the cuticle and corazonin has a role in cuticle pigmentation and moulting.
Peptide signals play a role in information processing that is different from that of conventional neurotransmitters, and many appear to be particularly associated with specific behaviours. For example, oxytocin and vasopressin have striking and specific effects on social behaviours, including maternal behaviour and pair bonding.
Usage examples of "neuropeptide".
Two of these neurotransmitters are neuropeptide Y, a chemical that is active in turning our carbohydrate cravings off and on, and galanin, which is associated with fat intake.
Leibowitz found that the stress hormone cortisol stimulates production of neuropeptide Y.
He had juggled the books to disguise profits from a neuropeptide and other products sold to a Swiss firm.
Thanks to an ample budget, a large, well-trained laboratory staff and state-of-the-art equipment, Sternovsky had been able to chemically isolate the active neuropeptide agent from wolverine blood.
The pressure in my skull explained most of my symptoms, but tests on my cerebrospinal fluid had also revealed a greatly elevated level of a substance called Leu-enkephalin-an endorphin, a neuropeptide which bound to some of the same receptors as opiates like morphine and heroin.
Ten billion switches, by conservative estimate, are each wired to five thousand others, regulated by neurotransmitters and neuropeptides whose scores of enzyme dialects control a chaos of simultaneous translation conveying desire, fear, torture, pleasure.
They tap into the sites of synthesis for every neurotransmitter used in the host body and direct the flow of neuropeptides, which mediate sensory and emotional response.
His neuropeptides are sky-high, like his brain is overloaded, or multitasking: serotonin, GABA, VBC, psilosynine.
There are carbohydrate analogs of stimulatory neuropeptides which are degraded into glucose and water on a time scale of minutes.
There are biochemicals in muscles that aren't found in the gut, for example, and there are neuropeptides unique to the brain.