Posted by Janelle on March 27, 2002, at 1:14:26
In reply to Receptors not Pumps - and G-Proteins! » Janelle, posted by BarbaraCat on March 26, 2002, at 16:38:38
Barbara,
Eee-gads. Most of what you took the time and effort to post here went sailing over my head, but I'd like to review what I can get out of it with you and also ask a follow-up question or two!
Okay, I get that there are few pumps but many receptors. HOWEVER, you wrote "Pumps are little workhorses and take care of a whole lot of transmitters and are not really choosy about which ones they're transporting, just as long as they get deposited back to the shores of the axon end." Gee, I thought there were SPECIFIC pumps for SPECIFIC neurotransmitters, i.e. serotonin reuptake pumps, noradrenaline reuptake pumps, dopamine reuptake pumps, etc. You're saying no, that a pump will reuptake more than one kind of neurotransmitter?
You wrote: "The receptors fill up, change shape, an action potential is created causing an electrical spike to be sent down the axonal arm - to be repeated on and on." When you say "sent down the axonal arm," do you mean that the neuron that received the neurotransmitter is now sending it on the next neuron?
Can a neuron do both - it can receive and send?
Beyond this, I'm totally mystified! Wah ... I can't stand not being able to understand this stuff.
-frustrated Janelle
poster:Janelle
thread:100140
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/100481.html