Discovery of Neurotransmitters

Neuroscience & Behavior 1921

Discoverers: Otto Loewi

Overview

Experimental proof that nerve impulses are transmitted chemically across synapses, through the isolation of acetylcholine (originally called 'Vagusstoff').

Significance

Established chemical neurotransmission as the basis of neural communication, opening the path to understanding psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Methodology

Famous frog heart experiment: vagus nerve stimulation of one heart produced a substance in saline that, when transferred, slowed a second heart.

Impact