Nerve impulse:
* action potentials that move along the length of an axon as a wave of depolarization
* neural transmission occurs when a neuron is activated, or fired (sends out an electrical impulse)
* activation (firing) of the neuron takes place when the neuron is stimulated by pressure, heat, light, or chemical information from other cells
* when a neuron is sufficiently stimulated to reach the neural threshold (a level of stimulation below which the cell does not fire), depolarization, or a change in cell potential, occurs.
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How a transmission of a signal within a neuron (in one direction only, from dendrite to axon terminal) is carried out:
* by the opening and closing of voltage-gated ion channels, which cause a brief reversal of the resting membrane potential to create an action potential.
* as an action potential travels down the axon, the polarity changes across the membrane.
* the dendrites of a neuron pick up nerve impulses and conduct them toward the cell body.
* through the cell body, the impulse is conducted down the axon, which transmits impulses for long distances to effectors on muscle cells
* the axon is separated into segments of nerve fibers, some of which are myelinated
* Gaps between myelinated cells are called nodes of Ranvier
* Nerve impulses jump from one node to another (saltatory conduction = regenerating the action potential at each node of Ranvier)