PSYT 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Dopamine Receptor D3, Nucleus Accumbens, Muscle Relaxant
24 Feb 2016
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Lecture 10: neurobiology of nicotine; pharmacological effects of nicotine. Dopaminergic drugs are often abused more frequently than ones that might be seratogenic. 2003 - dopamine and sensitization: disruption of nicotine conditioning by dopamine d3 receptor ligands found that repeated injections in the same environment produced sensitization (amount of activity) Arousal/pleasure: increased attention, enhanced vigilance, improved concentration, task performance. Muscle relaxation: nicotine acts on renshaw cells in the spinal cord which inhibit motor horn cells, leading to an decrease in motor reflexes, skeletal muscle relaxation. Nicotine acts at nicotinic" cholinergic receptors (nachr) - ligand-gated ion channels. Nachr are very heterogeneous 2alpha4+3beta2 highest affinity to nicotine the receptor is a pentameric protein existing in multiple forms, neuronal nicotinic receptors have alpha and beta subunits online. Activation causes a rapid increase in the cellular permeability to ca2+ and na+ with an increase in neuronal excitability.
