Set 4 (Part II) Flashcards
How do we achieve resting membrane potential after the action potential peaks?
- Opening the K+ channels
- Allowing outward diffusion of K+
What is repolarization?
The opening of K+ channels, which allows the interior of the cell to become more negative
What causes a brief period of hyperpolarization?
K+ channels remain open as the membrane is returning to the RMP
Differentiate the speeds of potassium and sodium channels.
- Potassium channels are slower
- Sodium channels are faster
What are the two options that serve as depolarizing stimulus?
- Chemical (e.g. neurotransmitter)
- Electrical
What must the depolarizing stimulus attain to cause an action potential?
The threshold (-59 mV)
What happens immediately after the depolarizing stimulus reaching the threshold?
- Voltage-gated Na+ channels open quickly, and Na+ enters the cell
- Voltage-gated K+ begin to open slowly
- Potassium is repolarizing and is leaving the cell already (slow-gated channels)
How do cells return to resting membrane potential from hyperpolarization if potassium and sodium channels are closed?
- Sodium/Potassium ATPase pump
- Leak channels
At the resting membrane potential, which gate closes the Na+ channel?
Activation gate
What triggers the opening of the sodium channel’s activation gate?
- Depolarizing stimulus
- Reverse of electrical charges triggers the opening (inside positive, outside negative now)
What stops Na+ entry when the action potential reaches a peak?
Inactivation gate
What happens to the Na+ gates during repolarization caused by K+ leaving the cell?
- Reverse of electrical charges (inside negative, outside positive)
- The activation and inactivation gate reset to their original positions
What is the feedback cycle in terms of action potential?
The reverse of electrical charges along the membrane
What is the absolute refractory period?
- Brief period (half a millisecond)
- A local area of a neuron’s membrane resists restimulation and will not respond to a stimulus, no matter how strong
- When the inactivation gate is in place in the sodium channel
What is the relative refractory period?
- Time during which the membrane is repolarized and is restoring the RMP
- Right after the absolute refractory period
- Membrane will only respond to a VERY strong stimulus
How is an action potential propagated along an axon?
- The reversal in polarity causes electrical current to flow between the site of the action potential and the adjacent regions of membrane
- Triggers voltage-gated Na+ channels in the next segment to open
Why can’t action potentials only move forward (feed-forward mechanism)?
- Because it follows a gradient
- Because the refractory period prevents restimulation
In myelinated fibers, where does action potential occur? What is this called?
- Nodes of Ranvier
- Saltatory conduction, where impulse regeneration leaps from node to node
What do myelin sheaths resist? What are the advantages?
- Ion movement
- Only need to depolarize at the nodes of Ranvier
- Also, K+ does not leak out, so it is easier to depolarize
What are the consequences of demyelinated diseases
- Conduction slows when current leaks out of the previously insulated regions between the nodes
- Eventually, the cell might not even fire
Which disease is characterized by demyelination?
Multiple sclerosis
If the ECF K+ concentration increases from 3mM to 5mM, what happens to the resting membrane potential of cells?
A) It becomes more negative
B) It becomes less negative
C) It doesn’t change
A) It becomes more negative
In your work for a pharmaceutical company, you have just created a neurotransmitter that opens K+ channels in neutrons. A neutron under the influence of this neurotransmitter will:
A) Be more likely to fire an action potential
B) Be less likely to fire an action potential
C) The drug will have no effect on an action potential firing
B) Be less likely to fire an action potential
What causes the repolarization phase of the action potential?
A) Na+ being pumped out of the cell by the ATPase
B) K+ being pumped out of the cell by the ATPase
C) Na+ entering the cell through voltage-gated channels
D) K+ entering the cell through voltage-gated channels
E) None of the above
E) None of the above
K+ leaving the cell for the ECF is the right answer
During the rising phase of the action potential, _____.
A) Voltage-gated potassium channels open
B) There is a decrease in the Na+ permeability
C) Sodium moves down both a concentration and electrical gradient
D) Slow sodium entry depolarizes the cell
E) Sodium permeability is enhanced by a feed-forward/feedback process
F) Three of the above are correct
F) Three of the above are correct
During depolarization of a nerve fiber, ______.
A) K+ leaves the neuron
B) K+ enters the neuron
C) Neither occurs as the finer is in its refractory state
A) K+ leaves the neuron
Which of the following is true about one of the two gates in Na+ channels in axons?
A) The opening of the activation gates stops the depolarization during an activation potential.
B) The closing of the inactivation gate stops the depolarization during an action potential.
B) The closing of the inactivation gate stops the depolarization during an action potential.
Where does an action potential begin?
At the trigger zone
Why do positive charges from the depolarized trigger zone spread to adjacent zones?
Because the K+ is repelled by the Na+, and attracted by the negative charge of the RMP
What are synapses?
Gaps where neurotransmitters are released
When do chemical synapses occur?
Occur where pre-synaptic cells release neurotransmitters across a tiny gap to the post-synaptic cell
The neuromuscular junction is an example of a _______ synapse.
chemical
What are the three structures in which a neuron can terminate?
Muscle, gland, or neuron
What is a synaptic knob?
Tiny bulge at the end of a terminal branch of a pre-synaptic neuron’s axon
What structure contains vesicles housing neurotransmitters?
Synaptic knob
What is the synaptic cleft?
Space between a synaptic knob and the plasma membrane of a post-synaptic neuron
What specialized structure does the plasma membrane of a post-synaptic neuron possess?
Protein molecules that serve as receptors for the neurotransmitters
What does the axon of an axodendritic synapse signal?
- Axon signals post-synaptic dendrite
- Common
What does the axon of an axosomatic synapse signal?
- Axon signals post-synaptic soma
- Common
What does the axon of an axoaxonic synapse signal?
- Axon signals post-synaptic axon
- May regulate action potential of post-synaptic axon
What is required for the fusion of a vesicle containing neurotransmitters to the cell membrane?
Ca2+
Which ion enters the cell at the axon terminal? What is its function?
- Ca2+
- Triggers exocytosis of synaptic vesicle contents
What could the cell response be following the binding of a neurotransmitter to a receptor on a post-synaptic cell?
- Intracellular signaling
- Depolarization
What are the two types of post-synaptic potentials? Which ions are they associated with?
- Excitatory post-synaptic potential (EPSP-Na+)
- Inhibitory post-synaptic potential (IPSP-Cl-)
What produces a post-synaptic potential?
Opening of ion channels
Which diseases are caused by defects/imbalances in neurotransmitters?
- Alzheimer’s
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Schizophrenia
- Parkinson’s