Module 3 - Brains Building Blocks Flashcards
Branchlike extensions that receive signals from senses and the environment are called ________.
Dentrites
What is the structure that nourishes and maintains the entire neuron?
The cell body or soma
A single threadlike extension that speeds signals away from the body and toward a neighbouring cell is the what?
Axon
A tubelike structure that insulates the axon from interference by neighbouring signals is the ______ ______.
Myelin sheath
Tiny swellings at the very end of the axon are called _______, which store neurotransmitters.
End bulbs
Chemicals that have electrical charges are called _____.
Ions
Ions obey the rule that opposite charges attract and like charges repel. Fluid in the axon contains many ions, but we focused on two, a positively charged _______ ion (Na+) and a negatively charged ______ ion.
Sodium
Protein
If an axon membrane has a potential similar to a charged battery, the axon is in the _______.
Resting state
During the resting state, ions outside of the axon membrane are positively charged ______ ions. The ions inside the membrane are negatively charged _______ ions.
Sodium
Protein
If an axon membrane is in a state similar to a discharging battery, the axon is generating an _______.
Action potential
During an action potential, the chemical gates open and positively charged _______ ______ rush inside, changing the inside of the membrane to a positive charge, while the outside has a negative charge.
Sodium ions
As the action potential moves down the axon, it is called an _______.
Impulse (or nerve impulse)
Once the action potential is generated, the impulse travels from the beginning to the end of the axon; this phenomenon is referred to as the _________ law.
All-or-none law
The end bulbs of one neuron are separated from the dendrites of a neighbouring neuron by an extremely small space called the _____.
Synapse
End bulbs release chemicals, called _________ into the synapse, which open/excite or block/inhibit neighbouring receptors.
Neurotransmitters
From end bulbs, chemical keys or ______ are secreted into the synapse. These chemical keys open matching locks called _______, which are located on the surface of neighbouring dentrites, muscles, or organs.
Neurotransmitters
Receptors
Neurotransmitters that open a receptor’s lock are called ________; neurotransmitters that block a receptor’s lock are called _________.
Excitatory
Inhibitory
Neurons in the brain and spinal cord make up the _____ ______ ______.
Central nervous system
If neurons are damaged, they have little ability to ______ and usually die.
Regrow, repair, or reconnect
The mature human brain has a limited ability to regrow ________ throughout adulthood.
Neurons
Information from the body’s senses, skin, organs, and muscles is carried to and from the spinal cord by nerves that make up the ______ ______ ______.
Peripheral nervous system
If the peripheral nervous system is damaged, _________ in this system have a remarkable ability to regrow and make new connections.
Nerves
Sensing pain, your hand automatically withdraws because of a prewired response. Neurons that carry “pain information” to the spinal cord are called _________ neurons.
Sensory or afferent
Inside the spinal cord, there are short neurons, called ______, that make connections between other neurons that carry information to the brain.
Interneurons
Neurons that carry information away from the spinal cord to muscles or organs are called ________ neurons.
Motor or efferent
The process of developing new neurons is called _______.
Neurogensis
A ________ is a chemical messenger that carries information between nerves and body organs, such as muscles and heart.
Transmitter
________ are small proteinlike molecules used by neurons to communicate with each other, different from larger neurotransmitters.
Neuropeptides
Chemicals produced by the brain and secreted in response to injury or severe stress are called _______.
Endorphins
The movement of automatically withdrawing your hand after touching a hot object is called a _____, which involves several or more neurons.
Reflex response
Information is carried from the spinal cord to the muscle by the ________ neuron.
Sensory or afferent
Connections between efferent (motor) and afferent (sensory) neurons are made by relatively short ________, which also send signals to the brain.
Interneurons
The functions of reflexes include protecting body parts from _______ and automatically regulating the _______ responses of the body.
Injury or harm
Physiological
One of cocaine’s effects on the nervous system is to block the process of ________ so that the neurotransmitter remains in the synapse longer, causing physiological arousal.
Reputake
A drug that blocks receptors on muscles and causes paralysis is ______.
Curare
A drug that has chemical keys similar to endorphins and causes uncontrollable laughing and hallucinations is ______.
Salvia
The tremors and rigidity of Parkinson’s disease is the result when a group of structures that regulate movement, called the ________, lose their supply of dopamine.
Basal ganglia
In experimental treatment, fetal brain cells or stem cells can be transplanted into a precise location of the patient’s brain by a technique called the ______ procedure.
Stereotaxic
Stem cells have the amazing ability to develop into _________ to treat spinal cord injuries and diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Stem cells
