Chemicals and their influence on Brain

Chemicals and their influence on Brain

Have you ever wondered why people fall into depression? What makes us excite looking at certain things or doing particular activities? All the actions exhibited by human body are controlled or more exactly activated by Brain cells. This is no news and we also know that each action is managed by respective part of the brain. But, do you know about chemicals in our brain?

Brain is house for a wide variety of chemicals that act as messengers between brain and body. These chemicals are called as Neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are communication channels that tell your eyes to see the monitor, your fingers to type on the keyboard and your ears to listen that song. It is believed that these chemicals can trigger or halt many physical and psychological actions such as mood, appetite, anger, heart rate, pleasure n and many more. A review of researches and studies concluded that neurotransmitters are not utilized to the best degree in individuals who are prone to excess usage of alcohol, prescribed drugs or abusive drugs.

Although the study of chemical language in brain is bringing about new theories every time, the basic functionality remains same. That is, the communication process is carried out by neurons with the help of chemicals passing from one neuron to another. Our nervous system has a structure called synapse that lets neuron or nerve cell to send out an electrical signal or chemical signal to another. Neurotransmitters are generated and released from axon terminal to post-synapse within synapse structure. From here the electrical or chemical signal is passed on to other neurons for action or emotion to take place. After contacting receptors, neurotransmitters go back to axon terminal and get recharged for the next action potential flow. Not all neurotransmitters are loaded with action triggers, few are degraded by enzymes.

Scientist are not yet confident on exactly how many Neurotransmitters exist in us but more than 100 have been identified and can be classified into three major categories – Amino acids, Peptides and Monoamines. The chemical messengers are said to perform in two different functionalities – Inhibitory and Excitatory.

Inhibitory Neurotransmitters:

As the name suggests, Inhibitory Neurotransmitters are those that have depressing effect on neurons. They cause hyperpolarisation at the receptor to slow down a process or to stop a certain action. Best example for explaining the function of Inhibitory transmitters is function of our ears while sleeping. Not able to hear sounds when we are asleep doesn’t mean our ears have stopped working, it means the brain refrains from noticing signals secreted by these Inhibitory Neurotransmitters when the body is in relaxing state.

Excitatory Neurotransmitters:

Excitatory Neurotransmitters are the neurotransmitters that have firing effect on neurons. Unlike to Inhibitory Neurotransmitters, these send triggering signals to neurons for an action. They create depolarization of membrane by receptor activation and produce action potential. These neurotransmitters activate actions that can lead to physical or mental activity.

Let’s discuss a few Neurotransmitters that fall under either of the above mentioned functionalities.

Serotonin: It is an Inhibitory transmitter that doesn’t activate the brain but helps in maintaining tranquillity in mood. This chemical is especially useful in mitigating panic disorders. Body has to as maintain stable mental health. It cannot be active all the time and work all round the clock, if it does, it will soon be tired leading to fatigue. To balance out with action chemicals, brain needs these chemicals such as Serotonin. Doctors prescribe medication to energize Serotonin in health issues involving appetite, anger, sleep and hypertension. It has been proved that people whose intake of coffee crosses the threshold suffer from depletion of Serotonin. Imbalance serotonin levels result in lower immunity, depression, suicide, impulsive behaviour, aggressiveness and indigestion.

Dopamine: Dopamine is one chemical messenger that is considered both Inhibitory and Excitatory Neurotransmitters. Both high and low levels of dopamine pose trouble to brain and body. It is known for arousing emotions and motivation levels. It deals with focus issues, movement, desire and ambitions. Unable to recollect topic of the article just read, daydreaming, failing to answer known questions in school tests etc contribute to low or high ranges of dopamine. People with low dopamine levels may predispose to Parkinson’s disease and people with high dopamine levels may get diagnosed by schizophrenia.

Norepinephrine: It is an Excitatory Neurotransmitter that controls stimulatory processes in body. It plays a critical role in dreaming, sleeping, learning and emotions. It is linked fight or flight theory, a stress reaction where you either escape or fight in panic disorders. Norepinephrine is capable of making epinephrine, popularly known as adrenaline, or adrenalin. Epinephrine is a hormone and an excitatory neurotransmitter that is released in blood stream where it shrinks the blood vessels leading to increased heart rate.

GABA: This is another Inhibitory Neurotransmitter which is abbreviation to Gamma-aminobutyric acid. It acts as a negative effect to stop the transportation of one signal from one nerve cell to another. If GABA is not functioning as expected, the excitatory neurotransmitter continuously fires action potential causing one of hyper symptoms to aggravate. GABA is highly supportive to control such over-firing issues and preserve the chemical balance of the brain. In the absence of it, the brain will be bombarded with triggering signals and gets excited and explode. Many sedative drugs such as Benzodiazepines are formulated to enhance GABA’s operation. Elevated levels of GABA result in relaxation state. Epilepsy and Huntington’s disease are treated with medicines that increase GABA levels.

Glutamate: Glutamate is an Excitatory Neurotransmitter that abounds chemicals in vertebrate nervous system. It triggers the receptor pertaining to learning and memory. Decreased levels of Glutamate causes muscle stiffness and spasm, if continued for longer period may cause Stiff-man syndrome. GABA and Glutamate work as partners and share equal importance in balancing the brain functionality. Imbalance in any of the two neurotransmitters can influence both neurotransmitters’ performance. Alzheimer’s disease is the famous disease associated with Glutamate levels. All protein rich items such as dairy products, soya sauce, fish, poultry and cheese are excellent sources of Glutamic acid.

All Neurotransmitters are critical in brain functioning and even if one fails to work appropriately, functionality of all others are disturbed. They constantly review and re-coordinate accordingly at each moment of life for smooth, trouble-free existence. However, the levels of these neurotransmitters are affected by lifestyle of an individual. Physical and Psychological illnesses arise mostly from agitating exchanges of chemical messages between neurotransmitters. When a person is abusing the chemical messengers with alcohol, drugs and stress, the neurotransmitters first try to adjust and produce adequate chemical signals but if the abuse persists for long, they soon will cease to operate resulting in adverse health conditions. Keep a watch on your diet and routine for preventing unpleasant surprises in later life!