13 Facts About Acetylcholine

Acetylcholine is an organic chemical that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals as a neurotransmitter.

Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter used at the neuromuscular junction—in other words, it is the chemical that motor neurons of the nervous system release in order to activate muscles.

Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in the autonomic nervous system, both as an internal transmitter for the sympathetic nervous system and as the final product released by the parasympathetic nervous system.

Acetylcholine is the primary neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system.

Acetylcholine has been found in cells of non-neural origins as well as microbes.

Acetylcholine is a choline molecule that has been acetylated at the oxygen atom.

Acetylcholine is synthesized in certain neurons by the enzyme choline acetyltransferase from the compounds choline and acetyl-CoA.

Acetylcholine is the substance the nervous system uses to activate skeletal muscles, a kind of striated muscle.

Acetylcholine has been implicated in learning and memory in several ways.

Acetylcholine is used by organisms in all domains of life for a variety of purposes.

Acetylcholine is used by bacteria, fungi, and a variety of other animals.

Acetylcholine was first noted to be biologically active in 1906, when Reid Hunt and Rene de M Taveau found that it decreased blood pressure in exceptionally tiny doses.

Acetylcholine named it vagusstoff, noted it to be a structural analog of choline and suspected it to be acetylcholine.