title: The Ferrier Lecture, 1983. Amino acids and peptides: fast and slow chemical signals in the nervous system?
abstract: The classical monoamine neurotransmitters, acetylcholine and the catecholamines, are used by only a small proportion of synapses in mammalian c.n.s. The amino acids GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and L-glutamate may be the principal inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters used for fast point-to-point transmission in the c.n.s. The monoamines and the large number of neuropeptides (over 30) now known to exist in c.n.s. may be chemical signals used for a different type of chemically addressed form of information transmission between neurons in c.n.s. characterized by less precise spatial connections, a slower time course and a far richer diversity of chemical signals than used in classical synaptic neurotransmission. In this context the brain can be viewed as a neuroendocrine secretory organ of great complexity.
mesh_terms: D000588:Amines / Q000502:physiology; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005971:Glutamates / Q000502:physiology; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D006728:Hormones / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000588:Amines; D000596:Amino Acids; D005971:Glutamates; D006728:Hormones; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009842:Oligopeptides; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid