Why are there synthetic chemicals in our bodies? Where do they come from?
$begingroup$
My specific question is in regards to NMDA.
On the wiki page for NMDA it says that NMDA is a synthetic substance that mimics glutamate. So why does the body not use glutamate instead of NMDA?
Also how is it possible that our body can produce something that is synthetic? I thought synthetic was man-made chemicals. Does that mean the NMDA receptors it binds to are also synthetic? How did this come to be?
human-biology biochemistry molecular-biology neurophysiology neurotransmitter
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
My specific question is in regards to NMDA.
On the wiki page for NMDA it says that NMDA is a synthetic substance that mimics glutamate. So why does the body not use glutamate instead of NMDA?
Also how is it possible that our body can produce something that is synthetic? I thought synthetic was man-made chemicals. Does that mean the NMDA receptors it binds to are also synthetic? How did this come to be?
human-biology biochemistry molecular-biology neurophysiology neurotransmitter
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
My specific question is in regards to NMDA.
On the wiki page for NMDA it says that NMDA is a synthetic substance that mimics glutamate. So why does the body not use glutamate instead of NMDA?
Also how is it possible that our body can produce something that is synthetic? I thought synthetic was man-made chemicals. Does that mean the NMDA receptors it binds to are also synthetic? How did this come to be?
human-biology biochemistry molecular-biology neurophysiology neurotransmitter
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
$endgroup$
My specific question is in regards to NMDA.
On the wiki page for NMDA it says that NMDA is a synthetic substance that mimics glutamate. So why does the body not use glutamate instead of NMDA?
Also how is it possible that our body can produce something that is synthetic? I thought synthetic was man-made chemicals. Does that mean the NMDA receptors it binds to are also synthetic? How did this come to be?
human-biology biochemistry molecular-biology neurophysiology neurotransmitter
human-biology biochemistry molecular-biology neurophysiology neurotransmitter
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
asked 5 hours ago
user3665690user3665690
997
997
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
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oldest
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$begingroup$
NMDA receptors are in fact glutamate receptors natively: there is no endogenous NMDA. They are named NMDA receptors because experimentally they were differentiated from other glutamate receptors using the compound NMDA. At first glutamate receptors were known as "NMDA" and "non-NMDA" glutamate receptors, and later the non-NMDA sort were found to be sensitive to AMPA or kainate and named thusly.
Many other receptors are named this way: the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the receptor that nicotine is an agonist at, but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine; muscarine is an agonist to the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine.
Watkins, J. C., & Jane, D. E. (2006). The glutamate story. British journal of pharmacology, 147(S1), S100-S108.
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
NMDA receptors are in fact glutamate receptors natively: there is no endogenous NMDA. They are named NMDA receptors because experimentally they were differentiated from other glutamate receptors using the compound NMDA. At first glutamate receptors were known as "NMDA" and "non-NMDA" glutamate receptors, and later the non-NMDA sort were found to be sensitive to AMPA or kainate and named thusly.
Many other receptors are named this way: the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the receptor that nicotine is an agonist at, but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine; muscarine is an agonist to the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine.
Watkins, J. C., & Jane, D. E. (2006). The glutamate story. British journal of pharmacology, 147(S1), S100-S108.
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
NMDA receptors are in fact glutamate receptors natively: there is no endogenous NMDA. They are named NMDA receptors because experimentally they were differentiated from other glutamate receptors using the compound NMDA. At first glutamate receptors were known as "NMDA" and "non-NMDA" glutamate receptors, and later the non-NMDA sort were found to be sensitive to AMPA or kainate and named thusly.
Many other receptors are named this way: the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the receptor that nicotine is an agonist at, but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine; muscarine is an agonist to the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine.
Watkins, J. C., & Jane, D. E. (2006). The glutamate story. British journal of pharmacology, 147(S1), S100-S108.
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
NMDA receptors are in fact glutamate receptors natively: there is no endogenous NMDA. They are named NMDA receptors because experimentally they were differentiated from other glutamate receptors using the compound NMDA. At first glutamate receptors were known as "NMDA" and "non-NMDA" glutamate receptors, and later the non-NMDA sort were found to be sensitive to AMPA or kainate and named thusly.
Many other receptors are named this way: the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the receptor that nicotine is an agonist at, but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine; muscarine is an agonist to the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine.
Watkins, J. C., & Jane, D. E. (2006). The glutamate story. British journal of pharmacology, 147(S1), S100-S108.
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
$endgroup$
NMDA receptors are in fact glutamate receptors natively: there is no endogenous NMDA. They are named NMDA receptors because experimentally they were differentiated from other glutamate receptors using the compound NMDA. At first glutamate receptors were known as "NMDA" and "non-NMDA" glutamate receptors, and later the non-NMDA sort were found to be sensitive to AMPA or kainate and named thusly.
Many other receptors are named this way: the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the receptor that nicotine is an agonist at, but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine; muscarine is an agonist to the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor but the endogenous ligand is acetylcholine.
Watkins, J. C., & Jane, D. E. (2006). The glutamate story. British journal of pharmacology, 147(S1), S100-S108.
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
edited 4 hours ago
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
answered 4 hours ago
Bryan Krause♦Bryan Krause
19.9k33257
19.9k33257
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
So does that mean the so called "NMDA" in our bodies is just a chemical scientists found that is similar to glutamate, and thus named it that way? I still don't understand why there is no endogenous NMDA, where does it come from in our bodies?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
2
2
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 There are "NMDA receptors" in our body. There is not NMDA naturally in our body. "NMDA receptor" is just a name people gave to one of the receptors that normally binds glutamate. They could have called it something else, like the "slow glu receptor", or "Glutamate Receptor A", but they called it the NMDA receptor because they discovered it was different from other glutamate receptors in that it was activated by a chemical called NMDA in their experiments.
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I see! ok that makes a lot of sense now, so basically NMDA is a synthetic chemical that mimics glutamate induce NMDA receptor activity. Is that the right interpretation?
$endgroup$
– user3665690
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@user3665690 Yes that's correct
$endgroup$
– Bryan Krause♦
1 hour ago
add a comment |
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