Acetylcholine

Where does GABA actually sit in your brainstem sleep model? And is acetylcholine the real whole story that people are missing?

No, it's not the whole story.

Acetylcholine is just one of many neurotransmitters, and GABA is another one.

And the cannabinoids are modifiers of neurotransmitters.

And obviously you, Steve, and I are big into the biochemistry.

This occurs when you start to think about food or smell food.

This contributes 20 to 30% of the total gastric secretions, and it's mediated by the vagus nerve, which stimulates the enteric nerves to release gastrin-releasing peptide, aka GRP, as well as ACH.

and these will then work on specific cells in the stomach, which we'll talk about next.

The second phase is the gastric phase.

The parietal cells are the main cells that are responsible for producing the hydrochloric acid as well as intrinsic factor which is responsible in absorbing B12.

These are the cells you see in med school when you have the classic diagram of all the drugs trying to work to decrease acid secretion within the stomach.

Because they have receptors that respond to ACH, histamine and gastrin, you can specifically target and block any of these receptors to decrease overall acid production.

However, what's commonly done is to target the luminal receptor of these cells which is most efficient at decreasing acid production and that is to block the hydrogen potassium ATPase which is exactly what PPIs do and that's why they work so efficiently.