Neurotransmitter Precursor

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) are enzymes that belong to the neuromuscular cholinergic system, their main function is to hydrolyze the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), through their hydrolysis these enzymes regulate the neuronal and neuromuscular cholinergic system. They have recently attracted considerable attention due to the discovery of new enzymatic and nonenzymatic functions. These discoveries have aroused the interest of numerous scientists, consolidating the relevance of this group of enzymes...

Introduction Two large neutral amino acids (LNAA), tryptophan and tyrosine, are precursors to cerebral neurotransmitters and are involved in cognitive function. Higher levels of LNAA in young adults are associated with improved cognition, although these associations appear to reverse over time. Given that exposure to metabolic syndrome (MetS) may induce premature cognitive aging, the current project aims to fill the gap in the literature by examining the effect of LNAA on cognitive performance in midlife adults with metabolic risks...

Identifying additional noninvasive biomarkers for affective disorders, such as unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD), could aid in the diagnosis and treatment of these prevalent and debilitating neuropsychiatric conditions. One such candidate biomarker is the loudness dependence of the auditory evoked potential (LDAEP), an event-related potential that measures responsiveness of the auditory cortex to different intensities of sound. The LDAEP has been associated with MDD and BD, including therapeutic response to particular classes of antidepressant drugs, while also correlating with several other neuropsychiatric disorders...

BACKGROUND: Yi-Qi-Tong-Luo Granules (YQTLs) is a natural compound of Traditional Chinese Medicine authorized by China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA). These granules are employed in the convalescent stage of cerebral infarction and render notable clinical efficacy. This study aims to uncover the underlying mechanisms of YQTLs on remyelination after cerebral ischemia injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We established cerebral ischemia model in rats using microsphere-induced multiple cerebral infarction (MCI)...

The circadian clock in Drosophila is governed by a neural network comprising approximately 150 neurons, known as clock neurons, which are intricately interconnected by various neurotransmitters. The neuropeptides that play functional roles in these clock neurons have been identified; however, the roles of some neuropeptides, such as Trissin, remain unclear. Trissin is expressed in lateral dorsal clock neurons (LNds), while its receptor, TrissinR, is expressed in dorsal neuron 1 (DN1) and LNds. In this study, we investigated the role of the Trissin/TrissinR signaling pathway within the circadian network in Drosophila melanogaster...

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid and is the precursor of many important metabolites and neurotransmitters. In malnutrition, the availability of tryptophan is reduced, potentially putting patients at increased risks. Herein, we investigated the prognostic implications of the tryptophan metabolism in a secondary analysis of the Effect of Early Nutritional Support on Frailty, Functional Outcomes, and Recovery of Malnourished Medical Inpatients Trial (EFFORT), a randomized, controlled trial comparing individualized nutritional support to usual care in patients at risk for malnutrition...

Addressing the formidable challenge posed by the development of effective and personalized interventions for major depressive disorder (MDD) necessitates a comprehensive comprehension of the intricate role that plasma amino acids play and their implications in MDD pathology and pharmacology. Amino acids, owing to their indispensable functions in neurotransmission, metabolism, and immune regulation, emerge as pivotal entities in this intricate disorder. Our primary objective entails unraveling the underlying mechanisms and unveiling tailored treatments through a meticulous investigation into the interplay between plasma amino acids, MDD, and pharmacological strategies...

The absolute configuration dictates the biological role of chiral molecules in the living world. This is best exemplified by all ribosomally synthesized polypeptides having chiral amino acids only in the l-configuration. However, d-amino acids are also associated with various vital biological processes such as peptidoglycan of the bacterial cell wall, ligands for neurotransmitters, molecules involved in signaling, and precursors of metabolites, to name a few. The occurrence of both l- and d-enantiomers of amino acids in the living systems necessitates the presence of enzymes that exhibit stereoselectivity in recognition of substrates...

AIMS: This study aimed to illuminate the neuropathological landscape of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by a multiscale macro-micro-molecular perspective from in vivo neuroimaging data. METHODS: The "ADHD-200 initiative" repository provided multi-site high-quality resting-state functional connectivity (rsfc-) neuroimaging for ADHD children and matched typically developing (TD) cohort. Diffusion mapping embedding model to derive the functional connectome gradient detecting biologically plausible neural pattern was built, and the multivariate partial least square method to uncover the enrichment of neurotransmitomic, cellular and chromosomal gradient-transcriptional signatures of AHBA enrichment and meta-analytic decoding...

Many soft-bodied animals have extensive peripheral nervous systems (PNS) with significant sensory roles. One such, the sea slug Pleurobranchaea californica, uses PNS computations in its chemotactile oral veil (OV) in prey tracking, averaging olfactory stimuli across the OV to target likely source direction, or "stimulus place". This suggests a peripheral subepithelial network (SeN) interconnecting sensory sites to compute the directional average. We pursued anatomy and connectivity of previously described ciliated putative sensory cells on OV papillae...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Sleep quality is a pivotal part of health and there is growing evidence on the association between gut microbiota composition and sleep quality. 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is known as a precursor of the sleep regulating neurotransmitter and hormone. However, efficacy of 5-HTP supplementation for improving sleep quality in older adults is unclear. Hence, the aim of this study is to assess the impact of 5-HTP supplementation on sleep quality and gut microbiota composition in older adults...

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a serious mental illness and neuropsychiatric brain disorder with behavioral symptoms that include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized behavior, and cognitive impairment. Regulation of such behaviors requires utilization of neurotransmitters released to mediate cell-cell communication which are essential to brain functions in health and disease. We hypothesized that SZ may involve dysregulation of neurotransmitters secreted from neurons. To gain an understanding of human SZ, induced neurons (iNs) were derived from SZ patients and healthy control subjects to investigate peptide neurotransmitters, known as neuropeptides, which represent the major class of transmitters...

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a highly prevalent chronic disease. About 4.7% of the world's population suffers from generalized pain and hypersensitivity, in addition to a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms. The etiopathogenesis of this disease is multifactorial, which makes its diagnosis and treatment challenging. Recently, the increase in the number of studies on microbiota has provided new data that can help to understand the onset and development of FM. An updated systematic review of the causes of FM has been carried out in this work...

BACKGROUND: T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a malignant hematologic disease caused by the transformation and uncontrolled proliferation of T-cell precursors. T-ALL is generally thought to originate in the thymus since lymphoblasts express phenotypic markers comparable to those described in thymocytes in distinct stages of development. Although around 50% of T-ALL patients present a thymic mass, T-ALL is characterized by peripheral blood and bone marrow involvement, and central nervous system (CNS) infiltration is one of the most severe complications of the disease...

High grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy in the United States. Late diagnosis and the emergence of chemoresistance have prompted studies into how the tumor microenvironment, and more recently tumor innervation, may be leveraged for HGSC prevention and interception. In addition to biobehavioral sources, concentrations of the sympathetic neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) in the ovary increase during ovulation and after menopause. Importantly, NE exacerbates advanced HGSC progression...

The human hypothalamus modulates mental health by balancing interactions between hormonal fluctuations and stress responses. Stress-induced progesterone release activates progesterone receptors (PR) in the human brain and triggers alterations in neuropeptides/neurotransmitters. As recent epidemiological studies have associated peripheral progesterone levels with suicide risks in humans, we mapped PR distribution in the human hypothalamus in relation to age and sex and characterized its (co-) expression in specific cell types...

Astrocytes are crucial in the regulation of neurotransmitter homeostasis, and while their involvement in the dopamine (DA) tripartite synapse is acknowledged, it necessitates a more comprehensive investigation. In the present study, experiments were conducted on primary astrocyte cultures from the striatum and cortex of neonatal rats. The pharmacological intricacies of DA uptake, including dependence on time, temperature, and concentration, were investigated using radiolabelled [3 H]-DA. The mRNA expression of transporters DAT, NET, PMAT, and OCTs was evaluated by qPCR...

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a significant precursor to dementia, highlighting the critical need for early identification of individuals at high risk of MCI to prevent cognitive decline. The study aimed to investigate the changes in brain structure and function before the onset of MCI. This study enrolled 19 older adults with progressive normal cognition (pNC) to MCI and 19 older adults with stable normal cognition (sNC). The gray matter (GM) volume and functional connectivity (FC) were estimated via magnetic resonance imaging during their normal cognition state 3 years prior...

BACKGROUND: Around 10% of people who had COVID-9 infection suffer from persistent symptoms such as fatigue, dyspnoea, chest pain, arthralgia/myalgia, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction and impairment of mental health. Different underlying pathomechanisms appear to be involved, in particular inflammation, alterations in amino acid metabolism, autonomic dysfunction and gut dysbiosis. AIM: As routine tests are often inconspicuous in patients with Long COVID (LC), similarly to patients suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), accessible biomarkers indicating dysregulation of specific pathways are urgently needed to identify underlying pathomechanisms and enable personalized medicine treatment...

Indole-3-acetonitrile, a compound produced by bacteria and plants as a defense and survival signal in response to attacks, has been recently discovered as a metabolite produced by human cancer cells. This discovery suggests a potential association between IAN and cancer progression in patients. Consequently, the aim of this work was to study the effects of IAN on a specific cancer cell line, SH-SY5Y, and elucidate its connection to the serotonin and dopamine pathways by examining the precursors of these neurotransmitters...