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A cholinergic neuron is a nerve cell which mainly uses the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) to send its messages. Many neurological systems are cholinergic.Cholinergic neurons provide the primary source of acetylcholine to the cerebral cortex, and promote cortical activation during both wakefulness and rapid eye movement sleep. [1]
Cholinergic agents are compounds which mimic the action of acetylcholine and/or butyrylcholine. [1] In general, the word " choline " describes the various quaternary ammonium salts containing the N , N , N -trimethylethanolammonium cation .
Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter used at the neuromuscular junction—in other words, it is the chemical that motor neurons of the nervous system release in order to activate muscles. This property means that drugs that affect cholinergic systems can have very dangerous effects ranging from paralysis to convulsions.
A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse.The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell.
Chemical synapses can be classified according to the neurotransmitter released: glutamatergic (often excitatory), GABAergic (often inhibitory), cholinergic (e.g. vertebrate neuromuscular junction), and adrenergic (releasing norepinephrine).
When the wave reaches a synapse, it provokes release of a puff of neurotransmitter molecules, which bind to chemical receptor molecules located in the membrane of another neuron, on the opposite side of the synapse. In neuroscience, Dale's principle (or Dale's law) is a rule attributed to the English neuroscientist Henry Hallett Dale.
In the sympathetic division, neurons are mostly adrenergic (that is, epinephrine and norepinephrine function as the primary neurotransmitters). Notable exceptions to this rule include the sympathetic innervation of sweat glands and arrectores pilorum muscles where the neurotransmitter at both pre and post ganglionic synapses is acetylcholine.
The nAChR is found at the edges of junctional folds at the neuromuscular junction on the postsynaptic side; it is activated by acetylcholine release across the synapse. The diffusion of Na + and K + across the receptor causes depolarization, the end-plate potential, that opens voltage-gated sodium channels , which allows for firing of the ...