CHEMICAL MESSENGERS

Borsó Janka, Bodnár Emma

Biomolecular chemistry
2023.03.21.
 Introduction

• Signal dangerous situations

• Endocrine system: hormones
• Neurosystem: neurotransmitters
• Drugs act by mimicking, modifying, or opposing the action of
chemical messengers

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 Messenger molecules
Hormones Neurotransmitters
 Messenger of the endocryne system  Messengers of the nervous system
 Produced away from their site of action  Travels between a neuron and a
 Their result require seconds to hours neighboring neuron or other target cell

 Their action last long to transmit a nerve impulse

 Released in very short bursts
 One hormone can affect many different
tissues and organs  Are short lived
 Vital switching, information processing

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 Hormones and the Endocrine System

• Endocrine system - includes all cells that secrete hormones into the bloodstream

• Some of these cells are found in organs that also have non-endocrine functions
e.g. pancreas
• The cells occur in glands devoted solely to hormonal control e.g. thyroid gland.
• Major endocrine glands:
o thyroid gland,
o adrenal glands,
o ovaries and testes,
o pituitary gland (found in the brain)

• The hypothalamus controlls the endocrine system

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 The hypothalamus

• Direct neural controll

 Epinephrine: increases heart rate, blood pressure, andglucose availability

• Direct release of hormones

 Antidiuretic hormone: causes retention of water and elevation of blood pressure

• Indirect control through release of regulatory hormones

 Antidiuretic hormone: causes retention of water and elevation of blood pressure

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Hormones

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Examples

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 Entering the cell

• Only nonpolar, hydrophobic molecules can move across the hydrophobic cell membrane
• A receptor carries the hormone to the DNA, in the nucleus
 Change in production of a protein

• Water soluble molecules bond

to a receptor on the membrane
surface
 Second messenger within
the cell

1. Receptor
2. G protein
3. Enzyme

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 How Hormones Work: Epinephrine

• Fight-or-flight hormone: released when we need an instant response to danger

• Dramatic increase in the availability of glucose
• acts via cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP),
an important second messenger

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Production of cyclic AMP

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 Amino acid derivatives
• Produced by the thyroid gland
• When dietary iodine is insufficient, the thyroid
gland compensates by enlarging to produce
more thyroxine.
• Epinephrine is an amino acid derivatives that is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter

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 Polypeptides

• Largest class of hormones • Insulin

• Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)  released by the pancreas
• Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)  stimulates cells to take up glucose
• Released by the hypothalamus to either generate or store energy

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 Steroid Hormones
• Their structure is composed of the four connected rings
• They are hydrophobic
• Three main types:
1. Mineralcorticoids
2. Glucocorticoids
3. Sex hormones

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 Synthetic Steroid Hormones
• Birth controll pills

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 NEUROTRANSMITTERS

• chemical messengers of the nervous system

• released by nerve cells (neurons)
• transmit signals to neighboring target cells by variations in
electrical potential
due to exchange of
positive and negative
ions across the
Synapse: The place
cell membrane where the tip of a
neuron and its target
cell lie adjacent to
each other.

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 How neurotransmitters work: Acetylcholine

• Acetylcholine is a vertebrate neurotransmitter that is most

commonly found in muscle neurons
• it plays a role in the sleep–wake
cycle, learning, memory
and mood
MIND THE TRAP!
• Acetylcholine (AcCh)
neurotransmitter
• Acetyl-Coenzyme A
(acetyl-CoA)  coenzyme

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 Drugs and Acetylcholine

Drug: Any substance that alters body

function when it is introduced from an
external source.

Agonist: Antagonist:
substance that interacts with a
substance that inhibits the
receptor to prolong the
biochemical response of a
receptor’s normal biochemical
receptor
response

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 Drugs and Acetylcholine

Agonist: Antagonist:

• Black widow spider venom • Botulinum toxin

releases excess AcCh blocks AcCh release,

causes botulism

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Drugs and Acetylcholine

Antagonist:

• Organophosphorus
insecticides

inhibit AcCh esterase

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 Drugs and Acetylcholine

Antagonist:

• Atropine

competes with
acetylcholine at receptors

Atropa belladonna

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 Drugs and Acetylcholine

Antagonist:

• Tubocurarine

competes with
acetylcholine at receptors

historically known for its use as an

arrow poison
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 Drugs and Acetylcholine

Agonist: Antagonist:

• Nicotine (in small dose) • Nicotine (in large dose)

activates AcCh receptors blocks AcCh receptors,

causes their degeneration

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 Histamine and antihistamines

• Histamine: a neurotransmitter responsible for the symptoms of

the allergic reaction
• Antihistamines
(histamine receptor antagonists)
counteract the effect of
histamine

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 The monoamines and therapeutic drugs

Serotonine Norepinephrine Dopamine

• mood, the experiences of fear and pleasure, mental illness, and drug
addiction
• connection between major depression and a deficiency of monoamines

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 The monoamines and therapeutic drugs

• treatment of depression: increasing the concentration of

neurotransmitters in the synapses

prevent the re- inhibits the enzyme inhibits only the re-
uptake of serotonin that breaks down uptake of serotonin.
and norepinephrine monoamine
from within the neurotransmitters
synapse

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 Dopamine and drug addiction

• oversupply of dopamine  associated with

schizophrenia
• undersupply  results in the loss of fine motor
control in role in the brain’s
Parkinson’s disease reward system

cocaine blocks re-uptake of amphetamines accelerate

dopamine from the synapse release of dopamine

• higher-than-normal stimulation of dopamine receptors by

drugs results in tolerance

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Neuropeptides and pain relief

structural similarity  both interact with

the same receptors

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 Summary
Chemical messengers

Endocrine system Nervous system

Allergy Muscle Brain

Histamine Acetylcholine Dopamine

Serotonin

Norepinephrine

Epinephrine
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Thank You for Your Attention!

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