Lectures 1, 2 and 3 Flashcards
Which ion is in high concentration in the cytoplasm of cells?
Potassium
What in the cell requires a high concentration of potassium?
Replication machineries (DNA, RNA, proteins)
What evidence is there against life starting in primordial oceans?
There was not much potassium in them and there is potassium in the cytoplasm of the cell (so how did the systems evolve?)
What are the two places theorised that life began on earth?
. Hydrothermal cents
. Terrestrial, anoxic, geothermal fields
What is the theory of how multicellular organisms evolved?
Protists (choanoflagellates-single cell) aggregate to form multicellular structures
Why do they think Metazoans evolved in the ocean which was rich in sodium?
Explains the presence of high concentrations of sodium in their extracellular fluid
The difference in ionic composition of the intracellular and extracellular fluids must be kept as constant as possible. What is the word for this?
Homeostasis
What can changes in extracellular osmolarity lead to?
Cell shrinkage or swelling
Where is the concentration of sodium and potassium high/ low?
. Na high outside the cell, low inside
. Vice versa
What does the difference in ionic composition of the intracellular and extracellular fluids generate?
Electrochemical gradient (stores energy)
If permeability for potassium ions increases what will happen to the membrane potential?
Will shift towards the equilibrium potential for potassium
If the permeability for potassium ions decreases, what will happen to the membrane potential?
Will shift towards the equilibrium potentials for the other ions
What is the function of dendrites?
Receive information from other neurons
What is the function of the cell body’s
Contains the nucleus and most cell organelles
What is the function of the axon?
Conducts Acton potentials away from the cell body
What are the axon terminals?
Synapse with a target cell
What happens to information collected by dendrites?
It is integrated in the axon hillock, which generates action potentials
What are the potentials that occur at the cell body called?
Graded potentials
What is a graded potential?
Is a change from the resting potential that is proportional to the magnitude of a stimulus
What is the purpose of graded potentials?
They are a means of integrating stimuli because the membrane can respond with proportional amounts of depolarisation or hyperpolarisation to each stimulus, and those changes in membrane potential are summed
What does whether a membrane depolarises or hyperpolarises depend on?
The ion concentrations inside and outside the neurons, the equilibrium potentials, and the repertoire of ion channels (what types of channels we have in each neuron)
Is permeability for sodium ions increases the membrane potential will shift towards the equilibrium potential for Na ions. What does this lead to?
Depolarisation
Is permeability for K ions increases, the membrane potential will shift towards the equilibrium potential for potassium ions. What does this lead to?
Hyperpolarisation
What do ion channels do?
Mediate facilitated diffusion of ions and other metabolites
How are ion channels opened/ closed?
By specific triggers: specific ligands, voltage conditions, or physical association with structural elements
Ion channel activity is the reason for what?
Electrical brain activity
What does it mean if the ion channels are closed?
Must be near the resting potential of the cell
What is the strength of a stimulus determined by?
The concentration of neurotransmitter
When does spatial summation occur?
When several excitatory postsynaptic potentials arrive at the axon hillock simultaneously
What does temporal summation mean?
Means that postsynaptic potentials creates at the same synapse in rapid succession can be summed
The membrane potential decreases exponentially with distance, so how can neurons send information over long distances?
The action potential (spikes)
Voltage gated sodium ion channels contain an activation gate and an inactivation gate. What is the function of the activation and inactivation gate?
. The activation gate: opens the channel and allows ions to pass through the pore
. The inactivation gate “plugs” the pore, preventing ions from passing through while the activation gate is open
Describe the absolute refractory period
No action potential will be generated, even if the membrane depolarises beyond the threshold. This is because the voltage-gated sodium ion channels are inactivated
Describe the relative refractory period
This is the period after hyperpolarisation. The membrane potential is lower (more negative) than usual and it requires more depolarising power to reach the threshold potential
Describe a graded potential
Vary in magnitude Vary in duration Decay with distance Occur in dendrites and cell body Caused by opening and closing of many kinds of ion channels
Describe action potentials
Always the same size and shape (in a given cell type)
Always the same station (in a given cell type)
Do not decay with distance
Occur in axons of neurons (also in muscle cells)
Caused by opening and closing of voltage-gates ion channels
What do graded potentials allow?
Integration of multiple input signals into action potentials
Describe glial cells
Surround neurons and provide support for and insulation between them. Glial cells are the mists abundant cell types in the central nervous system
What do Astrocytes do?
Maintain homeostasis