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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Paracrine effects

Paracrine effects
Target neurons can also have receptors located outside the specialized synaptic region. They are presumably activated either by neurotransmitter that escapes from the synaptic cleft, or perhaps by a transmitter that is itself released outside specialized synaptic regions.

These extra-synaptic routes for chemical communication are sometimes called paracrine systems, as opposed to the more classical neurocrine routes. Their existence adds yet further subtleties to neuronal activity. It is possible that, under certain neuronal conditions, overflow from the synaptic cleft becomes more likely. This overflow could then differentially activate these non-classical paracrine communication routes, potentially producing qualitatively different actions on the target structures.

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