Chapter 5 Non MCQ questions Flashcards
What type of experiments revealed how Neurons communicate?
Experiments on heart beats.
What does acetylcholine (ach) do?
acetylcholine (ach) first neurotransmitter discovered in the peripheral and central nervous systems; activates skeletal muscles in the somatic nervous system and may either excite or inhibit internal organs in the autonomic system.
What does epinephrine (eP, or adrenaline) do?
epinephrine (eP, or adrenaline) Chemical messenger that acts as a hormone to mobilize the body for fight or flight during times of stress and as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system.
Accelerayes heart rate in frogs.
Adrenaline (Latin) and epinephrine (Greek) are the same substance, produced by the adrenal glands located atop the kidneys. Adrenaline is the name more people know, in part because a drug company used it as a trade name, but EP is common parlance in the neuroscience community
What does norepinephrine (ne, or noradrenaline) do?
norepinephrine (ne, or noradrenaline) Neurotransmitter found in the brain and in the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system; accelerates heart rate in mammals.
trade name, but EP is common parlance in the neuroscience community. Further experimentation eventually demonstrated that the chemical that accelerates heart rate in mammals is norepinephrine (NE, also noradrenaline), a chemical closely related to EP. The results of Loewi’s complementary experiments showed that ACh from the vagus nerve inhibits heartbeat, and EP from the accelerator nerve excites it.
What is a Neurotransmitter?
neurotransmitter: Chemical released by a neuron onto a target with an excitatory or inhibitory effect.
Outside the central nervous system, many of the same chemicals, EP among them, circulate in the bloodstream as hormones. Under control of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland directs hormones to excite or inhibit targets such as the organs and glands in the autonomic nervous system. In part because hormones travel through the bloodstream to distant targets, their action is slower than that of CNS neurotransmitters prodded by the lightning-quick nerve impulse
Under control of (1) the (2) directs hormones to excite or inhibit targets such as the organs and glands in the autonomic nervous system.
(1) Hypothalamus.
(2) Pituitary Gland.
How many neurotransmitters are there?
How many transmitters there are is an open question, with the number of 100 given for the maximum number and the number 50 given for the confirmed number. Whether a chemical is accepted as neurotransmitter depends on the extent to which it meets certain criteria.
What are the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease?
Disorder of the motor system correlated with a loss of dopamine in the brain and characterized by tremors, muscular rigidity, and reduction in voluntary movement.
shaking was usually the first symptom, and it typically began in a hand. over a number of years, the shaking spread to include the arm and then other parts of the body.
as the disease progressed, patients had a propensity to lean forward and walk on the balls of their feet. They also tended to run forward to prevent themselves from falling. in the later stages of the disease, patients had difficulty eating and swallowing. They drooled and their bowel movements slowed. eventually, the patients lost all muscular control and were unable to sleep because of the disruptive tremors.
Jean-martin Charcot named the condition Parkinson’s disease
n 1919, Constantin Tréatikoff studied the brains of nine Parkinson patients on autopsy and found that the substantia nigra, a small nucleus in the midbrain, had degenerated. in the brain of one patient who had experienced symptoms of Parkinson’s disease on one side of the body only, the substantia nigra had degenerated on the side opposite that of the symptoms.
- Chemical examination of the brains of Parkinson patients showed that symptoms of the disease appear when the level of dopamine, then a proposed neurotransmitter, was reduced to less than 10 percent of normal in the basal ganglia.
3Confirming the role of dopamine in a neural pathway connecting the substantia nigra to the basal ganglia, urban ungerstedt found in 1971 that injecting a neurotoxin called 6-hydroxydopamine into rats selectively destroyed these dopamine-containing neurons and produced the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. researchers have now linked the loss of dopamine neurons to an array of causes, including genetic predisposition, the flu, pollution, insecticides and herbicides, and toxic drugs. Dopamine itself has been linked not only to motor behavior but also to some forms of learning and to neural structures that mediate reward and addiction. Thus, this remarkable series of discoveries initiated by James Parkinson has been a source of more insight into the function of the brain than has the investigation of any other disease.
What does Dopamine do?
dopamine (Da) is an amine neurotransmitter that plays a role in coordinating movement, in attention and learning, and in behaviors that are reinforcing
What is Synaptic Vesicle?
synaptic vesicle organelle consisting of a membrane structure that encloses a quantum of neurotransmitter.
What is the Synaptic Cleft?
gap that separates the presynaptic membrane from the postsynaptic membrane.
The synaptic Cleft is central to synapse function because Neurotransmitter chemicals must bridge this gap to carry a message from one neuron to the next.
What are glial cells role in neurotransmitters?
The surrounding glia contribute to chemical neurotransmission in a number of ways—by supplying the building blocks for the synthesis of neurotransmitters or by mopping up excess neurotransmitter molecules, for example.
What is a Gap Junction?
gap junction (electrical synapse) fused prejunction and postjunction cell membrane in which connected ion channels form a pore that allows ions to pass directly from one neuron to the next.
. Gap junctions are found in the mammalian brain, where in some regions they allow groups of interneurons to synchronize their firing rhythmically. Gap junctions also allow glial cells and neurons to exchange substances
What are the benefits of a chemical synapse over electrical synapse?
Why, if chemical synapses transmit messages more slowly, do mammals rely on them more than on gap junctions? The answer is that chemical synapses are flexible in controlling whether a message is passed from one neuron to the next, they can amplify or diminish a signal sent from one neuron to the next, and they can change with experience to alter their signals and so mediate learning
What is a chemical synapse?
chemical synapse Junction at which messenger molecules are released when stimulated by an action potential.
What are the four steps in Neurotransmission?
The four-step process of transmitting information across a chemical synapse is illustrated in Figure 5-4 and explained in this section. In brief, the neurotransmitter must be
1. synthesized and stored in the axon terminal.
- transported to the presynaptic membrane and released in response to an action potential.
- able to activate the receptors on the target-cell membrane located on the postsynaptic membrane.
- inactivated, or it will continue to work indefinitely.
What are the two ways Neurotransmitters can be derived?
Neurotransmitters are derived in two general ways, and these origins define two broad classes of neurotransmitters.
1: Some Synthezised in cells.
2: Some Derived from food
1: Some are synthesized in the cell body according to instructions contained in the neuron’s DNA, packaged in membranes on the Golgi bodies and transported on microtubules to the axon terminal. Cell-derived neurotransmitters may also be manufactured within the presynaptic terminal from mRNA that is transported to the terminal.
2: Other neurotransmitters are synthesized in the axon terminal from building blocks derived from food. Transporters, protein molecules that pump substances across the cell membrane, absorb the required precursor chemicals from the blood supply. (Sometimes transporter proteins absorb the neurotransmitter ready-made.) Mitochondria in the axon terminal provide the energy needed both to synthesize precursor chemicals into the neurotransmitter and to wrap them in membranous vesicles.
Regardless of their origin, neurotransmitters in the axon terminal can usually be found in three locations, depending on the type of neurotransmitter. Some vesicles are warehoused in granules, some are attached to microfilaments in the terminal, and still others are attached to the presynaptic membrane. These sites represent the steps in which a transmitter is transported from a granule to the membrane, ready to be released into the synaptic cleft.
What is a transporter?
transporter: Protein molecule that pumps substances across a membrane.
What is a Storage Granule?
storage granule membranous compartment that holds several vesicles containing a neurotransmitter.
What chemical plays a role in action potentials on the presynaptic membrane?
Calcium cations (Ca21) play an important role. The presynaptic membrane is rich in voltage-sensitive calcium channels, and the surrounding extracellular fluid is rich in Ca21. As illustrated in Figure 5-5, the action potential’s arrival opens these calcium channels, allowing an influx of calcium ions into the axon terminal. The incoming Ca21 binds to the protein calmodulin, and the resulting complex takes part in two chemical reactions: one releases vesicles bound to the presynaptic membrane, and the other releases vesicles bound to microfilaments in the axon terminal.
How does receptor site activation work?
After the neurotransmitter has been released from vesicles on the presynaptic membrane, it diffuses across the synaptic cleft and binds to specialized protein molecules embedded in the postsynaptic membrane. These
transmitter-activated receptors have binding sites for the transmitter substance. Through the receptors, the postsynaptic cell may be affected in one of three ways, depending on the type of neurotransmitter and the kind of receptors on the postsynaptic membrane. The transmitter may 1. depolarize the postsynaptic membrane and so have an excitatory action on the postsynaptic neuron. 2. hyperpolarize the postsynaptic membrane and so have an inhibitory action on the postsynaptic neuron. 3. initiate other chemical reactions that modulate either effect, inhibitory or excitatory, or that influence other functions of the receiving neuron.
How much neurotransmitter is needed to send a message?
Bernard Katz was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1970 for providing an answer.
Recording electrical activity from the postsynaptic membranes of muscles, he detected small, spontaneous depolarizations now called miniature postsynaptic potentials. The potentials varied in size, but each size appeared to be a multiple of the smallest potential.
Katz concluded that the smallest postsynaptic potential is produced by the release of the contents of just one synaptic vesicle.
This amount of neurotransmitter is called a quantum. To produce a postsynaptic potential that is large enough to initiate a postsynaptic action potential requires the simultaneous release of many quanta from the presynaptic cell.
The results of subsequent experiments show that the number of quanta released from the presynaptic membrane in response to a single action potential depends on two factors:
(1) the amount of Ca2 + (calcium)that enters the axon terminal in response to the action potential and (2) the number of vesicles docked at the membrane, waiting to be released.
How are neurotransmitters deactivated?
Deactivation is accomplished in at least four ways:
- Diffusion: Some of the neurotransmitter simply diffuses away from the synaptic cleft and is no longer available to bind to receptors.
- Degradation by enzymes in the synaptic cleft
- Reuptake: Membrane transporter proteins specific to that transmitter may bring the transmitter back into the presynaptic axon terminal for subsequent reuse. The by-products of degradation by enzymes also may be taken back into the terminal to be used again in the cell.
- Glial uptake: Some neurotransmitters are taken up by neighboring glial cells. Potentially, the glial cells can also store transmitters for re-export to the axon terminal.
What is a Quantum?
quantum (pl. quanta): amount of neurotransmitter, equivalent to the contents of a single synaptic vesicle, that produces a just observable change in postsynaptic electric potential.
What is reuptake?
reuptake Deactivation of a neurotransmitter when membrane transporter proteins bring the transmitter back into the presynaptic axon terminal for subsequent reuse.
How many different type of synapses are there?
1: Dendrodendritic: Dendrites send messages to other dendrites.
2: Axodendritic: Axon terminal of one neuron synapses on dendritic spine of another.
3: Axoextracellular: Terminal with no specific target. Secretes transmitter into extracellular fluid.
4: Axosomatic: Axon terminal ends on cell body.
5: Axosynaptic: Axon terminal ends on another terminal.
6: Axoaxonic: Axon terminal ends on another axon.
7: Axosecretory: Axon terminal ends on tiny blood vessel and secretes transmitter directly into blood.
Where are type 1 and type 2 synapses located?
Type I (excitatory) synapses are typically located on the shafts or the spines of dendrites, whereas Type II (inhibitory) synapses are typically located on a cell body. In addition, Type I synapses have round synaptic vesicles, whereas the vesicles of Type II synapses are flattened. The material on the presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes is denser in a Type I synapse than it is in a Type II, and the Type I synaptic cleft is wider. Finally, the active zone on a Type I synapse is larger than that on a Type II synapse. The different locations of Type I and Type II synapses divide a neuron into two zones: an excitatory dendritic tree and an inhibitory cell body. You can think of excitatory and inhibitory messages as interacting from these two different perspectives.
This wide variety of connections makes the synapse a versatile chemical delivery system. Synapses can deliver transmitters to highly specific sites or diffuse locales. Through connections to the dendrites, cell body, or axon of a neuron, transmitters can control the actions of the neuron in different ways. Through axosynaptic connections, they can also provide exquisite control over another neuron’s input to a cell. By excreting transmitters into extracellular fluid or into the blood, axoextracellular and axosecretory synapses can modulate the function of large areas of tissue or even the entire body. Recall that many transmitters secreted by neurons act as hormones circulating in your blood, with widespread influences on your body. Gap junctions, shown in Figure 5-3, further increase the diversity of signaling between one part of a neuron and another part of the same neuron. Intraneuronal communication may occur via dendrodendritc and axoaxonic gap junctions. Gap junctions also allow neighboring neurons to synchronize their signals through somasomatic (cell body to cell body) connections, and they allow glial cells, especially astrocytes, to pass nutrient chemicals to neurons and to receive waste products from them.
What are the four steps in identifying a Neuron?
The chemical must be synthesized in the neuron or otherwise be present in it.
- When the neuron is active, the chemical must be released and produce a response in some target.
- The same response must be obtained when the chemical is experimentally placed on the target.
- A mechanism must exist for removing the chemical from its site of action after its work is done.
What is a suspected neurotransmitter called?
A suspect chemical that has not yet been shown to meet all the criteria is called a putative (supposed) transmitter.
What are the criteria for identifying a neurotransmitter?
Researchers trying to identify new CNS neurotransmitters can use microelectrodes to stimulate and record from single neurons. A glass microelectrode is small enough to be placed on specific targets on a neuron. It can be filled with a chemical of interest and, when a current is passed through the electrode, the chemical can be ejected into or onto the neuron to mimic the release of a neurotransmitter onto the cell.
The criteria for identifying a neurotransmitter are fairly easy to apply when examining the somatic nervous system, especially at an accessible nerve–muscle junction with only one main neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.
But identifying chemical transmitters in the central nervous system is not so easy. In the brain and spinal cord, thousands of synapses are packed around every neuron, preventing easy access to a single synapse and its activities.
Consequently, a number of techniques, including staining, stimulating, and collecting, are used to identify substances thought to be CNS neurotransmitters.
What was the first substance identified as an Acetylcholine?
Acetylcholine was not only the first substance identified as a neurotransmitter but also the first substance identified as a CNS neurotransmitter. A logical argument that predicted its presence even before experimental proof was gathered greatly facilitated the process. As you know, all motor-neuron axons leaving the spinal cord use ACh as a transmitter. Each of these axons has an axon collateral within the spinal cord that synapses on a nearby CNS interneuron. The interneuron, in turn, synapses back on the motor neuron’s cell body. This circular set of connections, called a Renshaw loop after the researcher who first described it, is shown in Figure 5-9. Because the main axon to the muscle releases acetylcholine, investigators suspected that its axon collateral also might release ACh. For two terminals of the same axon to use different transmitters seemed unlikely. Knowing what chemical to look for made it easier to find and obtain the required proof that ACh is in fact a neurotransmitter in both locations. The loop made by the axon collateral and the interneuron in the spinal cord forms a feedback circuit that enables the motor neuron to inhibit itself from becoming overexcited if it receives a great many excitatory inputs from other parts of the CNS. Follow the positive and negative signs in Figure 5-9 to see how the Renshaw loop works. If the Renshaw loop is blocked, as can be done with the toxin strychnine, motor neurons become overactive, resulting in convulsions that can choke off respiration and so cause death.
What are the three classes of Neurotransmitters
chemical composition: (1) small-molecule transmitters, (2) peptide transmitters, and (3) transmitter gases.
What are small molecule transmitters?
One of the three classes of Neurotransmitters.
Because small-molecule transmitters or their main components are derived from the food that we eat, their level and activity in the body can be influenced by diet. This fact is important in the design of drugs that act on the nervous system. Many neuroactive drugs are designed to reach the brain by the same route that smallmolecule transmitters or their precursor chemicals follow: the digestive tract.
What are some example of small molecule transmitters?
acetylcholine (aCh) histamine (h)
amines
Dopamine (Da) Norepinephrine (Ne, or noradrenaline, Na) epinephrine (eP, or adrenaline) serotonin (5-hT)
amino acids glutamate (glu) gamma-aminobutyric acid (gaBa) glycine (gly)
What is Histamine?
Histamine is an example of a small molecule neurotransmitter.Among its many functions, which include the control of arousal and of waking, the transmitter histamine (H) can cause the constriction of smooth muscles. When activated in allergic reactions, histamine contributes to asthma, a constriction of the airways. You are probably familiar with antihistamine drugs used to treat allergies.
Neurotransmitter that controls arousal and waking; can cause the constriction of smooth muscles and so, when activated in allergic reactions, contributes to asthma, a constriction of the airways.
What is a Renshaw Loop?
All motor-neuron axons leaving the spinal cord use ACh (Acetycholoine) as a transmitter. Each of these axons has an axon collateral within the spinal cord that synapses on a nearby CNS interneuron. The interneuron, in turn, synapses back on the motor neuron’s cell body. This circular set of connections, called a Renshaw loop
What two substances is Acetycholine made up of?
Choline and acetate. Choline is among the breakdown products of fats in foods such as egg yolk, avocado, salmon, and olive oil; acetate is a compound found in acidic foods, such as vinegar and lemon juice. As depicted in Figure 5-10, inside the cell, acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl CoA) carries acetate to the synthesis site, and the transmitter is synthesized as a second enzyme, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), transfers the acetate to choline to form ACh. After ACh has been released into the synaptic cleft and diffuses to receptor sites on the postsynaptic membrane, a third enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), reverses the process by detaching acetate from choline. These breakdown products can then be taken back into the presynaptic terminal for reuse.