Electrotonic Potentials Flashcards
What happens if you increase sodium permeability?
It will lead to an electrotonic potential
It is “graded” - the shape encodes information
What happens when a membrane gets slightly depolarised?
what happens to this?
A patch of depolarisation will create an
electrotonic current
Electrotonic currents spread the depolarisation along the membrane
Electrotonic potentials carry signals for short distances (a few 100 microns)
Important principles
what does potenital difference depend upon?
if you increase na+ permeability, what happens?
The potential difference across a membrane depends on the relative permeability of that membrane to K+ and Na+ ions.
Increasing permeability to Na+ will depolarise the membrane, producing electrotonic potentials.
If the potential is generated by a synapse, it is known more specifically as a post-synaptic potential.
Electrotonic potentials are graded, and can carry information in their size, shape and pattern.
** Post-synaptic potentials can spread through the cell, and alter the membrane potential of the axon root **
