BIOLOGICAL Flashcards
When a neuron is in a resting state, the inside of the cell is?
Negatively charged
When activated by a stimulus, the inside of the cell becomes?
Positively charged for a second
What is the rapid switch from negtive to postive charge called?
Depolarisation
What does depolarisation create?
An electrical impulse (AP) that travels down the axon towards the terminal buttons of the neuron
What is the reward centre called?
Nucleus acooumbus
AP is generated once depolarisaton reaches…
A certain threshold
Neurons are seperated by a tiny gap known as the…
Synaptic cleft
What is synaptic transmission?
A chemical process using biochemical substances - neurotransmitters
At the end of the synaptic transmission what happens?
Triggers the release of neurotransmitter from synaptic vesicles
What do neurotransmitters do?
- Chemicals that diffuse across the synapse to the next
- When they cross the gap, it fits into mathcing receptor sites
What happens to the chemical signal carried by the neurotransmitter?
It’s converted back into an electric signal - AP
The neurotransmitters that remain are… this is known as…
- Reabsorped into the presynaptic neuron
- Reuptake
Recreational drugs are pleasurable because
The affect the mesolimbic pathway in the brain
Mesolimbic pathway is a route that
Is used by a neurotransmitter known as DOPAMINE
Neurotransmitters trigger what?
A casade
