I was reading about the [Novichok agent](https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/kbyxet/a_little_wordplay/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and I’d like to know more about how it works along with other nerve agents without the complicated science jargon.
In: Biology
At the cellular level our nerves represent little spaced out post offices, relaying messages from the brain to the body using neurotransmitter chemicals.
One of these chemicals is called acetylcholine. When the brain wants to move a muscle, it sends a message by triggering th first nerve to fire off acetylcholine. The acetylcholine travels across the gap to the next nerve, where it binds and causes that nerve to do the same nerve, and so on until the muscle receives the signal at the other end.
However after the signal is sent on to the next nerve, the body needs to get rid of that acetylcholine thats sitting there bound to the nerve, otherwise the nerve wouldn’t turn off. It uses an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase for this function, which zips in and chomps up that acetylcholine and recycles it for the next time it’s needed.
Nerve agents work by blocking acetylcholinesterase, so those acetylcholine molecules don’t get broken down and the nerve tracts the brain uses to control the body become jammed with signals as nerves become overloaded and paralyzed by acetylcholine.
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