Module 1.3a: Neurons

Question 1

Enables muscle action, learning, and memory
Undersupply linked to Alzheimers

Answer 1

Acetylcholine (ACh)

Question 2

Influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion
Oversupply: Schizophrenia
Undersupply: Parkinson’s

Answer 2

Dopamine

Question 3

Affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal
Undersupply: Depression

Answer 3

Seratonin

Question 4

Helps control alertness and arousal
Undersupply can depress mood

Answer 4

Norepinephrine

Question 5

A major inhibitory neurotransmitter
Undersupply: seizures, tremors, insomnia

Answer 5

GABA

Question 6

A major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in memory
Oversupply can overstimulate brain, causing migraines or seizures

Answer 6

glutamate

Question 7

Natural, opiod-like neurotransmitters linked to pain control and pleasure

Answer 7

endorphins

Question 8

Involved in pain perception and immune response
Oversupply: Chronic pain

Answer 8

substance P

Question 9

the level of stimulation required to trigger a neural response

Answer 9

Threshold

Question 10

a neural impulse; a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon

Answer 10

Action potential

Question 11

the electrical potential difference between the inside and outside of a neuron

Answer 11

Resting potential

Question 12

a brief resting pause in neural processing that occurs after a neuron has fired

Answer 12

refractory period

Question 13

a neurons reaction of either firing (with a full-strength response) or not firing

Answer 13

All-or-none response

Question 14

Chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gap between neurons and bind to receptors sites on the receiving neuron

Answer 14

Neurotransmitters

Question 15

the junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron

Answer 15

Synapse

Question 16

A neurotransmitter’s reabsorption by the sending neuron

Answer 16

Reuptake

Question 17

a nerve cell, the basic building block of the nervous system

Answer 17

Neuron

Question 18

a neuron’s branching extensions that receive and integrate messages, conducting impulses toward the cell body

Answer 18

dendrites

Question 19

the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus

Answer 19

Soma or cell body

Question 20

the segmented neuron extension that passes messages through it’s branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands

Answer 20

Axon

Question 21

Information is passed through these to other neurons or muscles or glands

Answer 21

Axon terminals

Question 22

a fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons; it enables greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next

Answer 22

Myelin sheath

Question 23

Gaps in the myelin sheath that allow ions to diffuse in and out of the neuron

Answer 23

Nodes of Ranvier

Question 24

glial cells that form the myelin sheath on axons outside the brain

Answer 24

Schwann cells

Question 25

cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons, also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory

Answer 25

Glial cells