Class 6: Action Potentials

Question 1

Explain how a receptor potential in a sensory neuron can lead to the initiation of an action potential at the trigger zone of the sensory axon.

Question 2

Compare and contrast the properties of mechanically-gated channels and voltage-gated channels (what causes them to open/close, where they are located, what kind of membrane potentials they mediate)

Question 3

Compare and contrast the properties of voltage-gated Na+ and voltage-gated K+ channels. Understand how voltage influences their activation and inactivation.

Question 4

Understand how the activity of voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels generates an action potential and the roles of these channels in each phase of the action potential.

Question 5

Explain how action potentials are propagated along an axon and compare this to the passive conduction like the local current flow in dendrites.

Question 6

Compare the distribution of ion channels along unmyelinated versus myelinated axons. Explain how this accounts for the difference in conduction velocity between these two types of axons.

Question 7

Predict the effects on action potential propagation of a demyelinating disease, such as multiple sclerosis.

Question 8

Understand how stimulus intensity is encoded by neurons.