Chapter 8 Nervous System Flashcards
Neuron Structure
What are three main components of a neurons? Draw it out.
What is the underlying characterisic for the processces? why is this important?
- Soma - the cell body.
- Dendrites - send nerve impulses to the soma
- Axon - send impulses away from the soma
What are different types of neurons?
- Multipolar - multiple processes radiate from the cell body.
- Bipolar - 2 processes coming out from the soma
- Unipolar - 1 process coming out of the cell body.
Where do you find bipolar and unipolar neurons?
- Bipolar - the eye
- Unipolar - the grey matter
what is the myelinating cell in the central nervous system and in the peripheral nervous system?
- Schwann cell - the PNC
- Oligodendrocytes - the CNS
What is the naked spot between the schwan cells?
What are these naked spots for?
Node of Ranvier
- These nodes of Ranvier allows the impulses to jump speeding up the rate of signal transduction along the axonb.
What is the technical term for jumping impulses along the axon?
Saltatory conduction
- why is it called saltatory? In latin, saltate means hop or jump.
Which area or part of the neuron has the most number of Sodium channels? why is that?
the axon hillock is the like the start of the axon. this is there action potentials are fired which make sense for why it has the most number of Sodium channels here.
What are the chemical gradient across the cell membrane?
- High concentration of Na+ and Cl- and Ca+ outside of the cells – so they tend to want to move inward making the inside more possitve for Na, Ca and more negative for Cl-
- K tend to want to flow out making the cell less possitie.
What is value of the resting membrane potential?
What are the membrane proteins that are responsible for this membrane potential?
- 70 mV
- The K/Na+ ATPase. Pumping 3 Na+ out and 2 K+ inside the cell using one ATP.
- Potassium leak channel.
What is the resting potential NEGATIVE value?
- It’s negative because Na+ is pumped outside of the cell against its gradient making in the inside more negaitve.
- K+ leak channel allows for the outflux of K+ making the inside of the cell even more negative.
If the possium leak channels are blocked, what will happen to the membrane potential?
less nagtive
so the magitude of the resting membrane potential will go down.
What would happen to the membrane potential if sodium ions were allowed to flow down their concentration gradient?
- making the inside of the cell less nagtive or even more possitive.
What exacly is an action potential? what does it mean to say that the membrane is polarized? what is depolarization and repolarization?
What governs the depolarization and repolarization?
- An action potential is a disturbance of the resting membrance potential - a wave of membrane depolarization among the axon.
- At equilibrium, the interior of the cell is negatively charged while the outside is possitively charged, hence the membrance is polarized.
- Depolarization is when this resting potential is disrupted. Repolarization is when the resting membrane is restored.
- The movement of ions in and out the cell. Since ions are charged molecules, moveme of ions are controled both by electrical and chemical gradients. Thus, action potential is a electrochemical impulses.
When is the cell membrane hyperpolarized?
- the cell is hyperpolarized when the inside of the cell more nagative.
What is equilibrium potential? What is the equation used to calculate the equilibirum potential?
Equilibirum potential is when the net force on the ion is zero. chemical and electrical forces balance each other out.
There is an equation to calculate this.
Nernst Equation:
E eq = RT/ zF ln([x]out/ [x]in)
What is the threshold potential?
-50
What is the difference between sodium gated channel and potasium gated channel?
Na+ channel opens faster than K+ channel.
At what potential is sodium channel deactivated?
+35
True or False. Why or why not?
Myelinated axons can conduct many more action potentials then unmyelinated axons.
What is the rate determining step for action potential?
- refractory period of potassium and sodium channels.
What is a nerve impulse?
It’s an action potential that travels … that’s all.
In the most general term, what is an electrical synapses?
It’s an junction in which an impulse is transferred from one cell to another cell.
What is the different between absolute and relative refractory?
- During absolute refractory period, the neuron absolutely cannot fire another action potential because the sodium channel is in its inactivated state.
- During the relative refractor period, the sodium channel is closed but not inactivated thus can be open if given enough potential.
How is the entire nervous system structured? how many brands and what are their functions?
- Then central is for integrating information
- Sensory and motor are part of the PNC - for receiving and sending out information.
What are the effectors in the nervous system?
muscle organs etc