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Neurotransmitter

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Neuroscience

Synonyms

Chemical transmitter

Definition

Neurotransmitter is a chemical that achieves chemically mediated transmission, a major mode of interneuronal and neuron-effector communication. The chemical should meet several criteria to be recognized as a neurotransmitter. The criteria are: (i) A neurotransmitter must be synthesized in a neuron and released from a presynaptic terminal, (ii) A neurotransmitter should reproduce the specific responses that are evoked by the stimulation of presynaptic neurons at the postsynaptic neuron or effector cells, (iii) The effect of the chemical should be blocked by antagonists in a dose-dependent manner, and (iv) A neurotransmitter must be reabsorbed into the presynaptic neuron or glia, or metabolized into an inactive form by enzymes to terminate the stimulation.

Characteristics

Function

Neurotransmitters transmit information from presynaptic neurons to postsynaptic neurons or peripheral effector cells through the activation of a receptor/channel. The...

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Further reading

  1. Deutch AY, Roth RH (2002) Neurotransmitter. In: Squire LR, Bloom FE, McConnel SK, Roberts JL, Spitzer NC, Zigmond MJ (eds) Fundamental neuroscience. Academic, San Diego, pp 163–196

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  2. Cooper JR, Bloom FE, Roth RH (2003) Cellular and molecular foundations of neuropharmacology. In: Cooper JR, Bloom FE, Roth RH (eds) The biochemical basis of neuropharmacology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 7–64

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  3. Kuba K (2002) Transmission of Excitation. In: Toyoda J, Kumada K, Ozawa S, Fukuda K, Honma K (eds) Standard textbook, Igakushoin, Tokyo, pp 112–136

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and System Pharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University, Kyushu, Japan

    Kazuhide Inoue

Authors
  1. Kazuhide Inoue
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Marc D. Binder

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine University of Tokyo Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Nobutaka Hirokawa

  3. Göttingen, Germany

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Inoue, K. (2009). Neurotransmitter. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_3952

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