PHYL 2041 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter, Myasthenia Gravis, Essential Amino Acid
26 Sep 2018
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Sept 18, 2018: acetylcholine, distribution and function of cholinergic neurons: Cholinergic neurons in the vertebrate nervous system: Autonomic nervous system: (preganglionic sympathetic + parasympathetic neurons + postganglionic parasympathetic neurons). Neurons regulating arousal and sleep in the brainstem + basal forebrain. In each system, there are two neurons that are connected in a series to affect target organs (preganglionic neurons + postganglionic neurons). Both the preganglionic neurons and the postganglionic neurons use acetylcholine to excite their targets. Synthesized from precursors (acetyl-coa) and choline in the presynaptic terminal. Loaded into the synaptic vesicles by means of vesicular acetylcholine transporter (vacht) Degraded in the cleft by acetylcholinesterase (inhibitors are used to treat myasthenia gravis) Acetyl-coa is the initial component of the citric acid cycle, and choline is an amino alcohol. Choline acyl-transferase, an enzyme, makes an ester bond between the hydroxy group of choline and the carbonyl c in acetyl-coa to generate acetylcholine in the presynaptic terminal.
