Neurons! What are neurons? Neurons are nerve cells. They send messages all over your body to help you function. Now, neurons are made up of several parts. As you can see in the image below, dendrites are the little branch-like parts on the left side They receive messages, like your mailbox. The cell body is the little black dot in the middle. It’s made up of usual cell stuff, like a nucleus. The myelin sheath is the round white part of the neuron, while the spaces between/ beneath it is the axon. The axon sends the messages throughout the neuron, while the myelin sheath protects it. The axon terminal is the small root-like part of the neuron on the right end. This is what sends the message, where it goes through the synapse and to another neuron.
The synapse. It’s basically just the space between neurons, like the air we breathe. Except really the only similarity is that we send messages through the air by speaking while neurons send electrical messages through the synapse. There are different types of neurotransmitters, but the gist of it is that neurotransmitters are the messengers themselves. In my example, neurons are the senders of the message while the neurotransmitters are like the mailman. Re-uptake, which is like recycling an envelope, happens after a message is sent. The sender (neuron) reabsorbs the signal for later on.
Examples of neurotransmitters are dopamine and serotonin. These two are like “happy” hormones (except dopamine is more reward-based). If you have low serotonin, you may become depressed. Or, for example, another neurotransmitter is norepinephrine. If you have low norepinephrine, you may have health issues. Some things can help you if you aren’t getting the right neurotransmitters/hormones. Agonists. They’re replacements or supplements for these missing neurotransmitters. Like if you’re low on endorphins, you might be given morphine. On the contrary, antagonists block neurotransmitters. You’d want to use antagonists if you have issues like having too much serotonin, which can cause seizures and such.
