[MURG] Neuropeptide Function?

[digfarenough]

--- Yan King Yin <y.k.y at lycos.com> wrote:
> 
> Just some updates of my recent activities:
> 
> (1) I'm studying some mathematical neural network
> theories. It *may* be possible to simply a
> biological
> neural net (eg obtained from scanning) without
> changing its dynamics significantly. Afterall the
> brain certainly has a lot of redundancies. If this
> can
> be done then uploads can run sooner than Moore's law
> reaches the required level.
> 

say what you will, but you'd be hard-pressed to
convince me to put my mind in anything less than a
highly detailed biological simulation
some (and likely all) of the brain is very finely
tuned, I'd estimate the effect of varying the dynamics
in a way like you're proposing would have
unpredictable effects..

> (2) Trying to figure out what neuropeptides do
> in the brain in genereal. I looked up primitive
> nerve
> nets of cnidarians eg Hydra etc, and these critters
> already use peptides stored in LDCVs in chemical
> synapses; Not sure about fast synaptic transmission.
> What could be the function of peptides in these
> organisms?
> 

couldn't tell you, but I warn you that such things may
act quite differently in them than in humans.. for
instance, serotonin in aplysia plays a very different
role in plasticity than it does in humans, but that's
a neuromodulator, not a neuropeptide..
 -Eric

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