Krill Oil and the Brain: Brain Chemistry Resources

Krill Oil and the Brain: Brain Chemistry Resources

Brain chemistry or neurochemistry is the particular study of neurochemicals. This study involves looking at neurotransmitters as well as any other molecules like neuro-active drugs, which influence the function of neurons. This principle intimately looks at how these kinds of neurochemicals have an influence on the neural network operation. The study of brain chemistry is still an evolving region of science. It is all about the micro-macro association between any organic compounds that are active in one’s nervous system and types of neural processes.


The best way to describe neurotransmitters is that they are endogenous chemicals transmitting signals from a neuron all the way to a target cell. This transmission goes by way of a synapse. Synaptic vesicles contain neurotransmitters, and these synaptic vesicles are grouped under the membrane on a synapse’s presynaptic side. From there, they are let out into the synaptic cleft. Once there, they then begin binding to the membrane’s receptors on the synapse’s postsynaptic side.

Neurotransmitters also come in a variety of types. For the purposes of classifying them effectively, it is satisfactory to group them as amino acids, monoamines and peptides. Amino acids generally include glycine, D-serine, y-aminobutyric acid, aspartate and glutamate. Monoamines include dopamine, serotonin, histamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. One example of peptides is B-endorphin.


Neurons are cells that are electrically excitable; they transmit and process information through chemical and electrical signaling. Chemical signaling happens through synapses, which can be looked at as specialized associations with other cells. Networks are formed by way of neurons connecting with each other. In essence, neurons are the main components of one’s nervous system, and the nervous system comprises the brain, peripheral ganglia and the spinal cord.

There are a variety of specialized and different neurons that exist. Sensory neurons, for instance, are specialized neurons that react to touch, light, sound and other types of stimulus that affect the cells of the sensory organs. Motor neurons, on the other hand, are neurons that receive signals from one’s brain and spinal cord, affect the glands and create muscle contractions. Finally, interneurons connect neurons to other kinds of neurons inside the same area of one’s brain or of one’s spinal cord.


Dopamine exists in a host of animals that include both invertebrates and vertebrates. It is a catecholamine transmitter, and it behaves like a neurotransmitter that activates five acknowledged kinds of dopamine receptors. The five kinds of dopamine receptors are D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5. Many parts of one’s brain create dopamine, and two examples are the ventral tegmental area and the substantia nigra. In terms of effects in the brain, dopamine is involved in cognition and behavior, voluntary movement, reward and punishment, motivation, mood, sleep, inhibition of prolactin production, working memory and attention, and the learning function.

Dopamine Receptors

Dopamine receptors are found prominently in the vertebrate central nervous system or CNS. Dopamine receptors are also a type of class of metabotropic G protein-coupled cell receptors. The dopamine transmitter is the main endogenous ligand for the dopamine receptors. The role of dopamine with regards to brain chemistry is vast and complicated.

A lot of neurological processes are associated with dopamine receptors. For instance, motivation, cognition, pleasure, learning, memory, motor control, and the modulation of any neuroendocrine signaling are all neurological processes that are associated with dopamine receptors. Quite a few neuropsychiatric disorders implicate abnormal dopaminergic nerve function and abnormal signaling of dopamine receptors. As a result, dopamine receptors are usual drug targets in a neurological sense. For example, psychostimulants are usually indirect agonists of any dopamine receptors, and antipsychotics are frequently receptors for dopamine antagonists.

Brain chemistry is a complicated subject area that investigates and analyzes how the brain works and how it works when neurochemicals are introduced and have an effect on its neural network operation. Still, a young and evolving field of science, the science of brain chemistry is all about the association between any organic compounds in the neural system of a person and the kinds of neural processes. Neurotransmitters transfer signals from a neuron all the way to the target cell in a person’s body, and this transfer occurs by way of a synapse. There are numerous types of transmitters, and neurons are simply cells that are electrically excitable and process and transfer information through chemical and electric signals. Substances like dopamine interact with one’s neuron network in a significant way by activating dopamine receptors in the body. Dopamine receptors lie in the central nervous system, and many kinds of neurological processes are connected to these receptors.