How are serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and enkephalins related? Also what’s the function of each on its own?
In: Biology
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Dopamine and serotonin are classical neurotransmitters. This means that they are one of a number of molecules that facilitate communication between nerve cells.
Enkephalin is a neuropeptide. These are larger molecules that facilitate slower forms of communication between neurons because it takes time for them to be released and the effects they have typically make relatively persistent changes.
Endorphins are also neuropeptides. Again these are involved in slower, forms of communication.
To illustrate what I mean by slow and fast communication, compare an action (like raising your arm) to a mood (a feeling that occurs over a longer time period). Both are products of nerve cells talking to each other in different ways.
I assume you’re trying to get at something to do with pleasure/pain as: dopamine is typically thought of colloquially as the “reward” neurotransmitter, seratonin the “pleasure” neurotransmitter, endorphins are associated with inhibiting pain signals/producing pleasure (hence, endorphin = endogenous morphine), enkephalin is involved in pain signalling as well as it prevents/reduces pain messages to the brain.
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