Serotonin and dopamine are both found in the venoms of some scorpions and some centipedes.
Injected subcutaneously, as with a scorpion sting, the molecules are inflammatory.
Cannabinoids have an anti-inflammatory effect on the skin, as I cited in an earlier post.
Serotonin and dopamine are of course excitatory neurotransmitters.
Endocannabinoids serve to guide axons in the formation of new [...]
Archive for the ‘Serotonin’ Category
Inflammation and Otherwise
Posted in Dopamine, Serotonin, allergies, endocannabinoid, inflammation, neuroplasticity on July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Insects Share Some Neurotransmitters with Humans and Other Mammals
Posted in Acetylcholine, Dopamine, Serotonin, evolution, insects on July 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Kelley at Bugs for Thugs:
Do insects have the same kinds of neurotransmitters as humans do? A neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger that is released when a nerve impulse reaches the synapse. Yes insects have them and even more they have some of the same neurotransmitters as vertebrates do, such as serotonin, dopamine, and acetylcholine.
Serotonin and Immune Function
Posted in Serotonin, immune system on May 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Commonly Used Antidepressants May Also
Affect Human Immune System
Drugs that treat depression by manipulating the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may also affect the user’s immune system in ways that are not yet understood, say scientists from Georgetown University Medical Center and a Canadian research institute.
That’s because the investigators found, for the first time, that serotonin [...]
Intestinal Serotonin
Posted in Serotonin, digestion on May 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
In addition to being a major neurotransmitter involved in brain function, serotonin is also used in the gut to help regulate digestion. This is a perfect example of why there might be a special relationship between brain function and diet.
Alterations in Intestinal Serotonin in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Dyspepsia
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate [...]
Antidepressants and Neurogenesis
Posted in Fluoxetine, Serotonin, depression, environment, neurogenesis on May 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
A good article on the history of neurogenesis and on environmental factors in brain development. I don’t like the casual use of the word self, which has come to fashionable use in the service of popularizing neuroscience. Journalists, especially, like to throw the term around. I’m not now going to go into all the problems [...]
contacting the solid ground of sanity
Posted in Serotonin, agriculture, depression, environment, schizophrenia, soil on May 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Obviously, the last topic is being put on hold. I’m not going to go into the reasons for the hiatus, but I do want to dust this blog off. I’m heading back to school, and I’m expecting that, in time, this will become my primary blog.
The ultimate focus of this blog will be on how [...]
Diet and Consciousness: An Example
Posted in Adrenaline, Dopamine, L-DOPA, Monoamine Oxidase, Noradrenaline, Serotonin, Tyramine, Tyrosine, diet on August 30, 2006 | 5 Comments »
Introduction and Overview
Before writing this post in the form in which it appears here, I set out to write an entry on tyramine, an exogenously created nervous system stimulant which plays a major role, I believe, in the sorry state of modern consciousness. But as I wrote, the story I was trying to tell got [...]
It isn’t the Transmitter, it’s the System
Posted in Dopamine, Serotonin, schizophrenia on August 23, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
The way neurochemistry is treated in the popular press, you’d think the presence of a neurotransmitter in the brain had a clear effect on consciousness. Increase the level of chemical X in the brain, you get happy, decrease the level of the same, you get sad. And so journalists have got into the habit of [...]
