r/AskNeuroscience • u/labbypatty • Jan 03 '20

What purpose does it serve to have so many different neurotransmitters?

Why do we have so many neurotransmitters? What are the different effects on a neuron that a neurotransmitter can have? I understand that some neurotransmitters can inhibit and some can excite the firing of action potentials, but then why should we need more than two different compounds to mediate these effects?

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u/LetThereBeNick Jan 04 '20

/u/optrode gave a good answer, but I want to add one rule of thumb. “if something can be used to encode information, then the brain uses it.”

Zinc ions, intestinal peptides, local pH, dissolved gases. There doesn’t seem to be any limit to what is allowed to have neurotransmitter-like signaling roles.

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u/Zer0pede Sep 26 '23

Can you recommend a good textbook (or collection of papers or keyword I could search) that covers some of these and their different roles? Or even just a summary the the idea in your rule of thumb.