Pearson neuron review Flashcards
Where do most action potentials originate?
Initial segment
What opens first in response to a threshold stimulus?
Voltage-gated Na+ channels
What characterizes depolarization, the first phase of the action potential?
The membrane potential changes from a negative value to a positive value.
What characterizes repolarization, the second phase of the action potential?
Once the membrane depolarizes to a peak value of +30 mV, it repolarizes to its negative resting value of -70 mV.
What event triggers the generation of an action potential?
The membrane potential must depolarize from the resting voltage of -70 mV to a threshold value of -55 mV.
What is the first change to occur in response to a threshold stimulus?
Voltage-gated Na+ channels change shape, and their activation gates open.
Place the events involved in the propagation of an action potential in the correct order of occurrence from 1 to 5.
- Local current flows to the axon segment
- Axon segment depolarized to threshold
- Voltage-gated Na+ channels open
- Influx of Na+
- AP regenerated in adjacent axon segment
Saltatory propagation occurs in _________ axons, in which action potentials _________.
Myelinated; move from one node of Ranvier to another
In a synapse, neurotransmitters are stored in vesicles located in the __________.
presynaptic neuron
An action potential releases neurotransmitter from a neuron by opening which of the following channels?
voltage-gated Ca2+ channels
Binding of a neurotransmitter to its receptors opens __________ channels on the __________ membrane.
chemically gated; postsynaptic
Binding of the neurotransmitter to its receptor causes the membrane to __________.
either depolarize or hyperpolarize
The mechanism by which the neurotransmitter is returned to a presynaptic neuron’s axon terminal is specific for each neurotransmitter. Which of the following neurotransmitters is broken down by an enzyme before being returned?
acetylcholine
What type of conduction takes place in unmyelinated axons?
Continuous conduction
An action potential is self-regenerating because __________.
depolarizing currents established by the influx of Na+ flow down the axon and trigger an action potential at the next segment
Why does regeneration of the action potential occur in one direction, rather than in two directions?
The inactivation gates of voltage-gated Na+ channels close in the node, or segment, that has just fired an action potential
What is the function of the myelin sheath?
The myelin sheath increases the speed of action potential conduction from the initial segment to the axon terminals
What changes occur to voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels at the peak of depolarization?
Inactivation gates of voltage-gated Na+ channels close, while activation gates of voltage-gated K+ channels open.