Neurons and Neurotransmitters

Acetycholine (Ach)

Function: Muscle movement, LEARNING, Memory

Too Little= Alzheimer, weakness, loss of muscle control, or paralysis

Dopamine

Function: PLEASURE, movement, learning, attention, emotion

Too much= schizophrenia

Too little= Parkinson’s disease

Seretonin

Function:MOOD, hunger, sleep, arousal from sleep

Too Little= depression

Norepinephrine

Function: Alertness, CONCENTRATION, arousal from sleep, fight/ flight

Too Little= low mood

GABA

Function: Inhibitory, CALMING, alertness, anxiety, memory, muscle tension

High levels= calm, alert

Too little= seizures, insomnia, tremors, anxiety

Glutamate

Function: Excitatory, memory

Too much: overstimulates the brain

Migraines, seizures, msg in food

Endorphins

Function: EUPHORIA, relief of pain, natural pain meds

Drugs that mimic endorphins tricks the brain into not making its own anymore

Causes physical addiction

Substance P

P for Pain

Function: involved in pain perception and immune response

Too much= chronic pain

Dendrites

Beginning of nerve

Where the impulse starts

Axon

Long thin rope that transports the message to the end of the neuron

Soma (cell body)

Holds organells and nucleus of the cell

Terminal endings/ buttons

The end of the cell

holds neurotransmitters that get sent to the next neuron’s dendrites

Myelin sheath

Protects the axon

Helps the message move quickly by letting it jump from the small sections in-between the pieces

Lack of it can cause multiple sclerosis

Resting potential

A neuron at rest

slightly negative charge

Threshold

The minimum amount of stimulation needed to make a neuron fire

All or none response

A neuron either fires or it doesn’t

Action potential

The firing of a neuron

Sets off an electrical charge from the beginning to he end of the neuron

Depolarization

Once the action potential takes place, the charge decreases closer to zero

Synapse

The space in-between neurons where the neurotransmitters pass on the message to the next neuron

Refractory period

The cell needs to rest after firing

only a split second, almost immediate

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals that allow the neurons to communicate

Reuptake

After a neurotransmitter binds to the next neuron, it goes back into the original neuron