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Neuroscience AMA
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Neuroscience
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In the brain, we seem to have numerous analog chemical systems that kinda operate alongside our binary on/off neurons. Things like hormone levels, that can create a shift in how other interactions play out across the system as a whole, in a sliding gradient as opposed simple on/off.
Roughly how many of these (edit: central-)nervous-system-wide analog communication systems are there?
That’s a hard question because of the interconnected-ness and complexity of the systems but I’ll give it a shot.
Neurotransmitters: ~30 Neuromodulators: ~10-20 (some transmitters also act as modulators) Hormones: 10 Growth Factors: ~5 Endocannabinoids: 2 Gaseous Neurotransmitters: 2 Peptides: ~30 Ion concentrations: ~5
So all that together I want to say there’s about 100 or so distinct “analog” signaling systems, but a lot of these molecules can function in multiple capacities, like neurotransmitters can act as neuromodulators and etc.
Thank you, that is exactly the kind of ballpark answer I was looking for. That's honestly less than I was expecting, I can actually wrap my head around 100ish chemical signaling systems.