Lecture 6 Flashcards
Structure- Function Relationships - Neural Circuits
- Neurons are organized into functional circuits that rapidly conduct info to a target
- a stimulus is concerted into chem/electrical signals that arr carried rapidly through a relay of Neurons called a neural circuit
Neurons vs. Neural Circuits
- Signal reception (input): dendrites
- Signal integration: axon hillock
- Signal Conduction: axon
- Signal Transmission (output): axon terminals
Sensory Neurons
Signal reception (input) - dendrites
Interneurons (2 of them)
- signal integration: axon hillock
- signal conduction: axon
Motor Neurons
Signal Transmission (output): axon terminals
Neural Circuits (alternate between)
- graded and all-or-none signals
- electrical and chemical signals
How do Ligand-Gated ion Channels Work
Convert chemical signals into electrical signals by changing the membrane potentials
What are Graded Potentials
The electrical signals generated by the ligand gated ion channels
What are the graded potentials proportional to
Stimulus strength
Ex. The concentration of neurotransmitter
With no Neurotransmitter
- Ions can not pass through the channel
- ion channel is in the closed conformation
With Low Neurotransmitter
- some ions can cross the membrane
- some are in the open conformation
With High Neurotransmitter
- many ions cross the membrane
- most ion channels are in open confirmation
What can Graded Potentials do:
- depolarize the cell via Na+ and CA2+ channels)
- hyperpolarize the cell via Na+ and Ca- channels
Ions move down
The electrochemical Gradients
Signals Decay Due to:
- Membrane Permeability
- Cytoplasm Resistance
- Decremental Spread or Electronic Conduction