Posted by linkadge on February 24, 2006, at 9:09:19
In reply to What exactly is acetylcholine (ACh) ??, posted by Meri-Tuuli on February 24, 2006, at 8:37:58
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter thought to play a role in memory.
Some drugs have the property that they can block certain acetylcholine receptors. This can produce memory loss, dry mouth, constiapation, and other things.
When people say such and such a drug is "anticholineric", generally they are reffering to a cluster of symtpoms they get from the drug blocking certain acetylcholine receptors.
There is a term "dumb drug euphoria". Drugs that block acetylcholine can make you dumb by impairing memory formation, but they seem to cause euphoria for some reason. Delerient drugs like marajuanna, block certain acetychline receptors, impairing memory and causing euphoria.On the other hand, drugs that enhance acetycholine action, like choline, or aricept etc. can improve memory formation, but they also tend to cause depression.
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:612749
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060130/msgs/612756.html