Excitory/Inhibitory neurotransmitters

Question 1

What are the two types that a neurotransmitter can be classified as?

Answer 1

1: excitatory neurotransmitters
2: inhibitory neurotransmitters

Question 2

What do inhibitory neurotransmitters do? (e.g serotonin)

Answer 2

Nervous systems ‘off switches’

They calm the mind, induce sleep, and filter out unnecessary excitatory signals

Question 3

What do excitatory neurotransmitters do? (e.g acetylcholine and noradrenaline)

Answer 3

They are the nervous systems ‘on switches

Hormone used in ‘fight of flight’, increase the rate neurotransmitters send messages & increase adrenaline

Question 4

What is EPSP?

Answer 4

excitatory postsynaptic potential

Question 5

What causes EPSP?

Answer 5

When excitatory neurotransmitters bind with postsynaptic receptors (after crossing the synaptic gap) this causes an electrical change in the cell, resulting in EPSP

Question 6

What does EPSP do?

Answer 6

makes it more likely that the postsynaptic cell will fire

Question 7

What is IPSP?

Answer 7

inhibitory postsynaptic potential

Question 8

What causes IPSP?

Answer 8

When an inhibitory neurotransmitter binds with a postsynaptic receptor (after crossing the synaptic gap), this results in IPSP

Question 9

What does IPSP do?

Answer 9

makes it less likely that the postsynaptic cell will fire

Question 10

A nerve cell can receive both EPSP and IPSP, so what determines whether that cell will fire?

Answer 10

A summation or the EPSP and IPSP input (This can be spatial or temporal)