Nerves 4 Flashcards
what is the RMP?
-70mV
what is the usual treshold needed to be reached to fire an AP?
-55mV
what is the potential at sensory neurone called?
generator potential
what is the potential at the skeletal muscle which determines whether the AP will be fired or not?
endplate potential
describe steps of the AP when stimulus is activated (4)
- stimulus causes sudden depolarisation and an overshoot to around +30 in a short space of time
- repolarisation then occurs (AP falls back down to below RMP)
- refractory period occurs
- cells is at RMP again
at rest, what is the Na and K permeability like?
Na permeability is low
K permeability is high (due to leaky K channels)
Describe ionic basis of AP when treshold is reached. (4)
when threshold is reached..
- Na channels open immediately and Na floods in depolarising the cell until its equilibrium potential is reached
- this causes a massive increase in permeability (decrease in resistance)
- K permeability slowly rises as more K channels open (voltage gated/ dependent ones NOT the leaky ones)
- K channels opening and Na channels closing causes repolarisation and later hyperpolarisation and then we are back to where we started at RMP
what is the refractory period?
occurs when there is no response to further stimulation (unresponsive tissue)
what sort of effect occurs if the Na/K pump is poisoned?
delayed effect (it takes time for gradients to run down)
what do local anaesthetics block? (procaine/ lidocaine)
block voltage dependent Na channels and no APs can be transported (some toxins do the same e.g. tetrodoxin)
what happens at depolarisation phase?
- Na channels open and Na floods the cell very quickly
what happens at repolarising phase?
- Na permeability drops
- VOLTAGE gated K channels open (more gradual, slow and stays open for longer), making cell more negative (drop back down)
what are main properties of APs?
- all or none treshold
- can’t encode stimulus in their amplitude, only in FREQUENCY
- they self propagate
- once AP is made, they are all the same size
- mediated by voltage gated channels
- have a refractory period
what is meant by APs being self-propagated?
- non-decremental (good for long distances)
- depolarisation can only sweep in ONE direction (forward) along the axon
- signal goes on until it reaches the muscle
what can conduction velocity be improved by?
myelination