(S1W2) Control of Muscle Activation part 4

Question 1

What is postsynaptic inhibition?

Answer 1

• after the synapse of the neuron, instead of getting a signal that excites the muscle, you get a signal that inhibits it
• when an excitatory signal is received at the cell body, depolarisation occurs
• whereas an inhibition causes hyperpolarisation (gets further away from threshold)
• if you’re less likely to reach the threshold and get an action potential, you’re less likely to release calcium and get a muscle contraction

Question 2

Which one is excitation and which one is inhibition? And how can you tell?

Answer 2

• left is excitation
• right is inhibition
• can tell as open circle = excitation and close circle = inhibition
• and excitation causes depolarisation and inhibition causes hyperpolarisation

Question 3

In diagrams, which type of circle shows excitation and which shows inhibition?

Answer 3

• open circle = excitation
• closed circle = inhibition