Chapter (Module) 3 (end of section 3.5) Flashcards
What are the 3 main parts of a neuron?
Dendrites (which received information)
Cell body (soma, decides if it needs to be sent)
Axon (which sends it to the next neuron/information is sent if there is a message that needs to be sent)
What is a neuron?
The building blocks and functional units of the nervous system.
Communicate by releasing chemicals (neurotransmitters) that change electrical activity in other neurone.
What does the dendrites do?
They are attached to the soma (like branches of a tree).
Receive messages so that the cell can decide whether to fire more (excitatory) or less (inhibitory, slows down the cell).
What does the soma do?
Located around the nucleus.
Contains the structures necessary to operate the cell.
The cell integrates (add up) all the input.
If there is enough excitatory inputs, an action potential is initiated at the axon hillock.
What does the axon do?
There is only one which extends from the soma.
Transmits an electrical signal (action signal) that causes neurotransmitters to be released from the terminal buttons.
The axon sends information to the next neuron.
What fatty tissue is the axon covered in?
Myelin sheath
Where is the start of the axon?
The axon hillock
What is the axon terminal?
It contains vesicles when the electric chemical comes it opens and send a message to another cell.
What do the vesicles do?
They are small structures containing neurotransmitters.
When the electrical signal arrives, they bind to the cell membrane and release neurotransmitters from the cell.
What are terminal buttons?
Small protrusions at the end of the axon terminal.
This is where neurotransmitters are released towards another neuron.
