Inter-Neural Transmission & Neurotransmitters

DENDRITES

Serve as input sites where signals are recieved from other neurons

• Signals are transmitted electrically across the soma and down a major extention from the soma known as axon.

AXON

The long, thread-like part of a nerve cell (neuron) that carries electrical signals away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands

MYELIN SHEATH

Coats the axon and acts as an insulator, increasing speed at which the signal travels

• NOT continueous and there are small gaps that occur down the length of the axon

• these gaps are Nodes of Ranvier

AXON TERMINALS

The small, swollen ends of a neuron's axon that store and release chemical messengers to communicate with neighboring cells

MIRROR NEURONS

Specialized brain cells that fire both whne you perform an action potential and when you warch someone else do that same action

Example: When you yawn, your brain mimics the physical trigger, which often makes you yawn in response

RESTING POTENTIAL

POLARIZED

• The stable, negative electrial charge of a neuron when it is not firing a signal

ACTION POTENTIAL

DEPOLARIZED

• The electric signal that typically moves from cell body down the axon to the axon terminals

SYNAPSE

The small specialized junction or gap between two neurons where information is transmitted across the nervous system

SYNAPTIC VESCICLES

Tiny membrane-bound sacs inside the axon terminals of a neuron.

REUPTAKE

Involves the neurotransmitters being pumped back into the neuron that released it, In order to clear the synapse.

REUPTAKE OF NEUROTRANSMITTERS

The reabsorption of chemical messengers by the sending nerve cell after they finish passing a signal across a synapse.

EXCITORY EFFECTS OF NEUROTRANSMITTERS

Depolarize postsynaptic membranes, increasing the likelihood that a receiving neuron will fire an action potential.

• KEY EXCITORIES NEUROTRANSMITTERS

  • acetycholine, epinephrine, norepineprhine

INHIBITORY EFFECTS OF NEUTROTRANSMITTERS

Decreases the likelihood that a nerve cell will fire an action potential.

• KEY INHIBITORY NEUROTRANSMITTERS

  • Serotonin and endorphins