Molecular Neurobiology for Practicing Psychiatrists, Part 2: How Neurotransmitters Activate Second Messenger Systems

This feature is the second in a series on molecular neurobiology for the practicing psychiatrist. Last month’s BRAINSTORMS provided a visual vocabulary of the elements involved in translating neurotransmitter- occupied receptors into genes expressed in the target neuron. Here we begin with the first step in this process, namely, formation of an intracellular second messenger triggered by occupancy of a neuronal membrane-bound receptor by its neurotransmitter.