or, Holy fuck the brain is complicated
Originally posted by Hydroponichronic on Zoklet.
(BTW, for those well versed in the topic, the last two paragraphs are some neat stuff)
While this may seem self-evident, the NfHC community as a group of informed druggies might like to assume they understand how their drug of choice works in the brain. I am here to point out that we don't.
So most of us know the basis of drug action is the binding of a drug or drug metabolite to a receptor or transporter on a neuron. This then causes changes in the cells that result in changes in consciousness. So far, that's all good, but it really doesn't provide enough specifics.
Then we move into the realm of neurotransmitters. Here's where shit gets tricky. The common assumption people make is that a given neurotransmitter produces a specific change in consciousness. As those who have done their reading know, it's not actually the neurotransmitter that does the work, but the receptor it binds to. Moreover, there are many subtypes of receptor for each neurotransmitter, all of which can do very different things.
On the next level we see that the link between a receptor and a change in consciousness has to do with the distribution of the receptor in different brain structures. This means that activating the same receptor subtype may have different effects depending on where in the brain it is, and what else is being activated at the same time.
Now, the piece of information that was news even to me: The receptor subtypes are composed of variable pieces, such that they can be exchanged, but the receptor subtype will still behave largely the same. Now, when I say exchanged, I don't mean manually, but rather naturally. Depending on the location in the brain, the receptor subtype may have a different composition. Though the receptor will still bind to endogenous agonists and antagonists, it will have varied affinity for exogenous compounds.
What this means is that given some good research work it may be possible to design drugs specifically for different brain regions, and from this we will be able to reverse engineer the brain in its entirety. With this knowledge it will be possible to make drugs that do just about anything from nootropics to pro-oneirics (dream inducers). It is a great time to be a druggie.
