GABA Receptors in Neurons
In the human body central nervous system, the most plentiful neuro-transmitters are the amino acids. Amino acids support the medical argument that the majority of the body's neurons in the human brain make use of either glutamate or aminobutyric acid (GABA) the primary neuro-transmitter. Therefore, underlying the brain's function (or dysfunction) is knowing that GABA and glutamate serve to regulate the volatility of nearly all neurons of the brain.
The most important neurotransmitter inhibitors in the human brain, as well as in the spinal cord, are GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) and glycine. These particular amino acids (i.e., inhibitory) are important in medical therapy as they mediate the actions of many neuropharmacological agents (drugs). Both the inhibitory and excitatory amino acids (neurotransmitters) can be either metabotropic or ionotropic in form. The ionotropic transmitters, through initiation, results in an enhanced membrane conductance while the metabortropic activation results in an increased intercellular second message level. What is important is in knowing that among the neurons of the human brain everything is mediated by what is called chemical messenger modules known as neurotransmitters that are released from one cell to another within the human body. Known as neurotransmission this process enables cellular modules to reach their target cell, binds it to the needed receptor, thus influencing the cell that has been reached. The most significant thing here is to remember that each neurotransmitter in the body can only act through its own aligned receptor even thought there might exist within a particular receptor several subclasses, each having different effect when interaction takes place. Three subtypes of recepters are influenced once GABA is released from the human cell, namely GABAA, GABAB, and GABAC. The other human body transmitter modules include acetylcholine, seratonin, aspartate, histamine epinephrine, norpinrphrine, dopamine, adenosine, ATP and nitric oxide.
