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Neurotranmission systems as targets for toxicants: a review

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Abstract

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit impulses from one nerve to another or from nerves to effector organs. Numerous neurotransmitters have been described in mammals, amongst them acetylcholine, amino acids, amines, peptides and gases. Toxicants may interact with various parts of neurotransmission systems, including synthetic and degradative enzymes, presynaptic vesicles and the specialized receptors that characterize neurotransmission systems. Important toxicants acting on the cholinergic system include the anticholinesterases (organophosphates and carbamates) and substances that act on receptors such as nicotine and the neonicotinoid insecticides, including imidacloprid. An important substance acting on the glutamatergic system is domoic acid, responsible for amnesic shellfish poisoning. 4-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine are inhibitory neurotransmitters and their antagonists, fipronil (an insecticide) and strychnine respectively, are excitatory. Abnormalities of dopamine neurotransmission occur in Parkinson’s disease, and a number of substances that interfere with this system produce Parkinsonian symptoms and clinical signs, including notably 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine, which is the precursor of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium. Fewer substances are known that interfere with adrenergic, histaminergic or seroninergic neurotransmission, but there are some examples. Among peptide neurotransmission systems, agonists of opioids are the only well-known toxic compounds.

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Notes

  1. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry name.

  2. A term used to mean phosphorylation and phosphonylation without distinction.

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  1. Edentox Associates, Pinehurst, Four Elms Road Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6AQ, UK

    Timothy C. Marrs

  2. West Midlands Poisons Unit, City Hospital, Dudley Road, Birmingham, B18 7QH, UK

    Timothy C. Marrs

  3. University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    R. L. Maynard

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Marrs, T.C., Maynard, R.L. Neurotranmission systems as targets for toxicants: a review. Cell Biol Toxicol 29, 381–396 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10565-013-9259-9

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