Did you Know? #11- Neurotransmitters and hormones

My Dear Sexy Readers,

Today a very short sexy story part of our Did you Know? series. I was writing about stress and how our body copes with it. There was obviously a lot of mention of hormones and neurotransmitters and I thought "Hang on, are we clear on what these are?" 

What are hormones and neurotransmitters? #DYK11
* Hormones are molecules produced by a gland and released into the bloodstream where it will be vehiculated to its target site.
* Neurotransmitters are chemical signals released from the presynaptic nerve to specific receptors on postsynaptic neurons transiently changing the electrical properties of the target cells, leading to an intracellular response.
Note: Some hormones change the way neurotransmitters operate.

How neurotransmitters (on the left) and hormones (on the right) work

An example we might all be familiar with is adrenaline! Adrenaline is a hormone released by the adrenal gland into the bloodstream and it affects the heart; and it's a neurotransmitter when it is released from a stimulated presynaptic nerve cell and acts on its neighbouring postsynaptic cell.

In summary, they are distinct classes of molecules, but some of these chemicals are used as both hormones (to send messages all over the body) and neurotransmitters (to send messages from one part of the brain to another).

See you Soon for more Sexy Science,