Neurochemistry is the specific study of neurochemical

Neurochemical

A neurochemical is an organic molecule, such as serotonin, dopamine, or nerve growth factor, that participates in neural activity. The science of neurochemistry studies the functions of neurochemicals.-Prominent neurochemicals:...

s, which include neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...

s and other molecules such as neuro-active drugs that influence neuron

Neuron

A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...

 function. This principle closely examines the manner in which these neurochemicals influence the network of neural operation. This evolving area of neuroscience

Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

 offers a neurochemist a micro-macro connection between the analysis of organic compound

Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of gaseous, liquid, or solid chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of carbon-containing compounds such as carbides, carbonates, simple oxides of carbon, and cyanides, as well as the...

s active in the nervous system and neural processes such as cortical plasticity, neurogenesis

Neurogenesis

Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem and progenitor cells. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons. Recently neurogenesis was shown to continue in several small parts of the brain of...

 and neural differentiation

Neural development

Neural development comprises the processes that generate, shape, and reshape the nervous system, from the earliest stages of embryogenesis to the final years of life. The study of neural development aims to describe the cellular basis of brain development and to address the underlying mechanisms...

.

History

The founding of neurochemistry as a discipline traces it origins to a series of "International Neurochemical Symposia", of which the first symposium volume published in 1954 was titled Biochemistry of the Developing Nervous System. These meetings led to the formation of the International Society for Neurochemistry

International Society for Neurochemistry

The International Society for Neurochemistry is a professional society for neurochemists and neuroscientists throughout the world.-History:...

 and the American Society for Neurochemistry

American Society for Neurochemistry

The American Society for Neurochemistry is a professional society for neurochemists and neuroscientists from North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, whose research concerns the role and interactions of small molecules in the development, growth, function, and pathology of the nervous...

. These early gatherings discussed the tentative nature of possible neurotransmitter substances such as acetylcholine

Acetylcholine

The chemical compound acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in both the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system in many organisms including humans...

, histamine

Histamine

Histamine is an organic nitrogen compound involved in local immune responses as well as regulating physiological function in the gut and acting as a neurotransmitter. Histamine triggers the inflammatory response. As part of an immune response to foreign pathogens, histamine is produced by...

, substance P

Substance P

In the field of neuroscience, substance P is a neuropeptide: an undecapeptide that functions as a neurotransmitter and as a neuromodulator. It belongs to the tachykinin neuropeptide family. Substance P and its closely related neuropeptide neurokinin A are produced from a polyprotein precursor...

, and serotonin

Serotonin

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and in the central nervous system of animals including humans...

. By 1972, ideas were more concrete. Neurochemicals such as norepinephrine

Norepinephrine

Norepinephrine is the US name for noradrenaline , a catecholamine with multiple roles including as a hormone and a neurotransmitter...

, dopamine

Dopamine

Dopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter present in a wide variety of animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the brain, this substituted phenethylamine functions as a neurotransmitter, activating the five known types of dopamine receptors—D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5—and their...

, and serotonin

Serotonin

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and in the central nervous system of animals including humans...

 were classified as "putative neurotransmitters in certain neuronal tracts in the brain."

See also

• Neuromodulation
  Neuromodulation
  In Neuromodulation several classes of neurotransmitters regulate diverse populations of central nervous system neurons...
  
  
• Neuroendocrinology
  Neuroendocrinology
  Neuroendocrinology is the study of the extensive interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system, including the biological features of the cells that participate, and how they functionally communicate...
  
  
• Neuroplasticity
  Neuroplasticity
  Neuroplasticity is a non-specific neuroscience term referring to the ability of the brain and nervous system in all species to change structurally and functionally as a result of input from the environment. Plasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging from cellular changes involved in...
  
   or Synaptic plasticity
  Synaptic plasticity
  In neuroscience, synaptic plasticity is the ability of the connection, or synapse, between two neurons to change in strength in response to either use or disuse of transmission over synaptic pathways. Plastic change also results from the alteration of the number of receptors located on a synapse...
  
  
• Neuroimmunology
  Neuroimmunology
  Neuroimmunology is a field combining neuroscience, the study of the nervous system, and immunology, the study of the immune system. Neuroimmunologists seek to better understand the interactions of these two complex systems during development, homeostasis, and response to injuries...
  
  
• Neurogenesis
  Neurogenesis
  Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem and progenitor cells. Most active during pre-natal development, neurogenesis is responsible for populating the growing brain with neurons. Recently neurogenesis was shown to continue in several small parts of the brain of...
  
  
• Molecular
  Molecular neuroscience
  Molecular neuroscience is a branch of neuroscience that examines the biology of the nervous system with molecular biology, molecular genetics, protein chemistry and related methodologies. Molecular biology studies how deoxyribonucleic acid forms ribonucleic acid which makes protein...
  
   and Cellular
  Cell (biology)
  The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
  
  neuroscience

External links

• Basic Neurochemistry online, searchable textbook.
• American Society for Neurochemistry