Neuromuscular transmission and Excitation-Contraction coupling Flashcards
neuromuscular junction
the junction midpoint between the nerve fiber terminal and the muscle fiber is neuromuscular junction
motor end plate
the nerve fibers make BRANCHING NERVE TERMINALS that invaginate into the muscle fiber but stays outside of the plasma membrane, the entire structure is called motor end plate
synaptic trough/ gutter
the invaginated membrane is called as synaptic trough or gutter
synaptic space/cleft
the space between the terminal and muscle fiber is known as synaptic space/cleft
wideness of synaptic cleft
20-30 meters wide
what subneural clefts and its function
the area beneath the gutter has many small folds of the muscle membrane which are subneural clefts and it increase the area of for the synaptic transmitter to act
acetylcholine is synthesized in?
cytoplasm of terminal
synaptic vesicle?
the acetylcholine is synthezied in the cytosol of terminal and absorbed by the synaptic vesicle, about 300,000 vesicles are present on single terminal end plate.
acetylcholinesterase
is in enzyme that hydrolases acetylcholine into acetate and choline
when the nerve impulse reaches the nerumuscular junction how many acetylcholine vesicles are released
125
dense bars
the inside of neural membrane have linear dense bars, and each have protein particle on its sides that penetrate through neural membrane
what are the protein particles that are present on the sides of dense bars
voltage gated calcium channels
the function of these voltage gated calcium channels
when an action potential spreads over the nerve terminal, it opens these channels which allow the calcium ions to move into the terminal from the synaptic space
what does the calcium ions inside the nerve terminal do ?
the calcium ions activate the CA+2 calmodulin dependent protein kinase, that phosphorylates the protein synapisn that anchors the acetylcholine vesicles to the cytoskeleton of presynaptic terminal
active zone
the anchoring of acetylcholine vesicles to cytoskeleton actually frees up the acethylcholine vesicles from the cytoskeleton and allows them to move to the ACTIVE ZONE of pre synaptic neural membrane ADJACENT TO DENSE BARS where the vesicles dock themselves and release the acetylcholine into the synaptic space by EXOCYTOSIS
in association with acetylcholine opening ions channel on postsynaptic membrane what is present on muscle fiber membrane
it contains acetylcholine receptors and voltage gated sodium channels
mouth of suneural clefts has ?
acetylcholine gated ion channels which are right below the dense bars
describe fetal acetylcholine receptor?
it is composed of five protein subunits which are two alpha and one each of beta delta and gamma
whats the diff b/w fetal and adult acetylcholine receptor
the subunit gamma is substituted by EPSILON in adults
the protein channel in acetylcholine receptors are opened how?
when two acetylcholine comes and attaches themselevs to each alpha subunit the channels goes under conformational change and opens the before constricted channel
size the of acetylcholine gated ion channel and what ions does it allow (the quantity ) and what ions it doesn’t allow
the size is 0.65 nanometer and it allows sodium, potassium and calcium to pass through in the amount of 15k to 30k sodium ions in 1 millisecond and it doesn’t allow chloride ions to pass because chloride is negatively charged and so is the inner walls of the gated ion channel
why far more NA ions move towards the outside than any other ions through the acetylcholine gated channels
for 2 reasons, firstly there are only two positively charged ions present in higher concentrations, one is sodium ion on the outside and potassium ion to the inside
secondly, the negative potential inside the muscle membrane is -80 to-90 which pulls the +NA ions to the inside and restricts the efflux of +K ions to the outside
end plate potential
the action of movement of sodium ions through the acetylcholine gated ion channels to the inside crates a positive potential inside the muscle membrane which is called end plate polarization
curare
is a poison that blocks the gating action of acetylcholine on the acetylcholine channels by competing with acetylcholine receptors