Neurons and neural communication Flashcards
What are the two components of the nervous system?
Central nervous system
Peripheral nervous system
What does the central nervous system comprise of?
brain
spinal cord
What are the two components of the peripheral nervous system
Somatic nervous system
Autonomic nervous system
What does the somatic nervous system control?
Muscles
Where does information enter a neuron?
Dendrites
Where does information leave the neuron?
Terminal buttons
What are the three functional classifications of neurons?
Sensory neurons
Motor neurons
Interneurons
What do sensory neurons do?
Transfer information towards brain
What do motor neurons do?
Transfer messages to muscles or other mechanisms
What do interneurons do?
transfer information between cells
What kind of process transmits information between cells?
Chemical
What kind of process transmits information within a cell?
Electrical
Where is greatest volume of potassium?
inside the cell
What is the resting membrane potential
difference in voltage between inside and outside of teh axon membrane
what is the force of diffusion
Any particular ion will want to be evenly distributed over space
What is electrostatic pressure?
desire for zero voltage difference
What are the forces working on potassium in resting membrane?
Forces of diffusion out
Electrostatic pressures in
What are forces working in Chlorine in resting membrane?
Forces of diffusion out
Electrostatic pressure out
What are forces working on Sodium in resting membrane?
Electrostatic pressure in
Diffusive forces out
What happens in upswing of spike in action potential?
Sodium enters cell - diffusion, electrostatic pressure
what happens after sodium enters cell?
Potassium leaves cell
diffusive forces
What is decremental conduction?
nneed to look this up
What are the three things that are contacted in the axon terminal
- vescicles (contain neurotransmitters)
- mitochondria (energy supply systems)
- cisternae (part of Golgi apparatus) - recycle vesicles
What happens to neurotransmitters that aren’t sucked back into vescicles?
destroyed
What are the four things that a postsynaptic membrane can be?
- dendrite
- gland or muscle
- axon
- soma
What are the ion channels in a synaptic connection?
Calcium
When do the calcium channels open in a synaptic connection?
WHen an action potential reaches the synapse and opens the voltage dependent Calcium channels.
What type of receptors alter ion channels directly?
Ionotropic receptors
What types of receptor alter ion channels indirectly?
metabotropic
What type of PSP is created when neurotransmitter opens sodium ion channels?
Excitatory
What type of PSP is created when neurotransmitter opens potassium ion channels?
Inhibitory (IPSP)
What does a predominance of EPSPs at the axon result in?
An action potential
What is neural integration?
Summation of PSPs
- predominance of EPSPs will lead to action potential
