Function and characteristics of each neurotransmitter.
A two-line prompt that quietly demands a matrix. The word 'each' sets the scope, and the second question wants directional answers, so plan the columns before you write a word of prose.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 23, 2026
What 'each neurotransmitter' commits you to
Twenty-five words of prompt hide a scoping decision you have to make yourself. Nobody can describe every neurotransmitter, so decide what 'each' covers and say so in your first line: the conventional teaching set is acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, serotonin, GABA, glutamate and histamine, with the endorphins often added. Declaring the scope converts an impossible instruction into a defensible one, and an instructor reading forty of these will notice which students made the decision consciously. The second half of the instruction, characteristics, is asking for more than a job description. Say where each transmitter is synthesised, whether it acts on ionotropic or metabotropic receptors, whether its net effect is excitatory or inhibitory, and how it is cleared, because clearance is what the relevant drug classes act on. Clearance also explains why some imbalances present acutely while others build over months, which the second question depends on.
The second question is the one that earns the marks, and it is directional. For every transmitter you have to give both an excess state and a deficit state, which is a harder constraint than it looks because the memorable clinical syndromes cluster on one side. Serotonin excess is serotonin syndrome; serotonin deficit is implicated in depressive and anxiety disorders. Dopamine excess maps to the positive symptoms of psychosis; dopamine deficit in the nigrostriatal pathway gives parkinsonism. Acetylcholine excess produces the cholinergic toxidrome; deficit gives myasthenic weakness and features of Alzheimer disease. GABA deficit lowers seizure threshold; excess produces sedation and respiratory depression. Build the answer as a table with the transmitter, its function, its excess picture and its deficit picture, then write prose around it. The table is what proves you answered 'each'. Order the rows so related systems sit together, because a reader scanning for coverage will follow the structure before the sentences.
Likely learning objectives
- Define a defensible scope for an open-ended 'each' instruction.
- Describe synthesis, receptor type, net effect and clearance for major transmitters.
- Pair every transmitter with both an excess and a deficiency syndrome.
- Link named clinical syndromes to the transmitter imbalance that produces them.
Assignment instructions
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Prompt: 1. Describe the function and characteristics of each neurotransmitter. 2. What signs/symptoms and diseases occur with an increase and a decrease with each neurotransmitter?
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Function and characteristics of each neurotransmitter. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Function and characteristics of each neurotransmitter.
What this short-answer prompt asks for
- 01A description of the function of each neurotransmitter covered.
- 02The characteristics of each neurotransmitter, not the function alone.
- 03Signs, symptoms and diseases occurring with an increase in each.
- 04Signs, symptoms and diseases occurring with a decrease in each.
Building the neurotransmitter matrix
Declaring the scope
State which transmitters the answer covers and justify the selection.
What the assessor is likely looking for
An explicit scope decision rather than a silent one.
The cholinergic system
Cover acetylcholine's synthesis, receptors, clearance and its two directions of imbalance.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Cholinergic toxidrome and myasthenic weakness both named.
The catecholamines
Handle dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine together with their pathway-specific effects.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Dopamine imbalance located by pathway, not treated globally.
Serotonin and histamine
Give function and the excess and deficit pictures for both.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Serotonin syndrome named as the excess state, with its triad.
The amino acid transmitters
Cover GABA and glutamate as the principal inhibitory and excitatory pair.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Excitotoxicity and seizure threshold used as the clinical anchors.
The matrix as a whole
Present the summary table that demonstrates the answer covered every transmitter claimed.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Complete coverage visible without reading the prose.
Where neurotransmitter physiology is documented
Recommended databases
- NCBI Bookshelf (StatPearls)
- PubMed Central
- MedlinePlus
- CINAHL
Search sequence
- 1.Start with a neurotransmitter overview to fix the scope you will declare.
- 2.Read one dedicated source per transmitter class rather than relying on the overview.
- 3.Search each transmitter's name with 'syndrome' to find the excess-state clinical picture.
- 4.Check receptor types explicitly, since the characteristics half of the prompt requires them.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Physiology, Neurotransmitters
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
The overview that fixes the scope and gives the excitatory-inhibitory classification.
Physiology, Serotonin
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Serotonin physiology, for both the deficit and the excess side of the serotonin row.
Physiology, Catecholamines
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Catecholamine synthesis and degradation, for the dopamine and norepinephrine rows.
Physiology, Cholinergic Receptors
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Cholinergic receptors, for the nicotinic and muscarinic distinction the characteristics need.
Physiology, Synapse
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024
Synaptic transmission and clearance, which is where the relevant drug classes act.
Before you submit the answer
Common mistakes
- Leaving the scope undeclared and covering three transmitters as if that were 'each'.
- Answering only the excess side because those syndromes are more memorable.
- Describing function while skipping synthesis, receptor type and clearance.
- Naming imbalances without attaching a recognised clinical syndrome.
- Writing continuous prose where a matrix would show coverage at a glance.
Submission checklist
- Did you state which transmitters 'each' covers and why?
- Does every transmitter have both an excess and a deficit entry?
- Have you given receptor type and clearance route, not just function?
- Is each imbalance tied to a named syndrome or disease?
- Would a reader see your coverage without reading every line?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read Brinevia's academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Maren Caldwell
MSN, RN, CNE
Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation
Maren is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical and educational experience in medical-surgical nursing. She writes on NCLEX preparation, patient care fundamentals, pharmacology and evidence-based practice.

Reviewed by
Dr. Tessa Redmond
DNP, RN, CNE
Evidence-based practice and clinical education
Tessa is a doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She reviews Brinevia content for clinical accuracy and alignment with current evidence-based guidelines.