Synapses and Neurotransmission Flashcards
What is signal transduction?
How the messages between cells are converted into biochemical signals.
What is the reticular doctrine?
Neurons are hard-wired together to form a continuous network.
What is the neuron doctrine?
The neuron is the elementary functional unit of the brain, which communicates through chemicals and not continuity.
What is synaptic transmission?
The process of information transfer between neurons.
Why is there no measurable delay in signal propagation across an electrical synapse?
Depolarisation spreads very quickly across gap junctions, which couples together neurons.
Does information flow in one or both directions at an electrical synapse?
Both directions (bidirectional).
Does information flow in one or both directions at a chemical synapse?
One direction (unidirectional).
Which molecule traffics vesicles to the active zone?
Actin.
How do neurotoxins inhibit exocytosis?
Neurotoxins interfere with the SNARE proteins that mediate vesicle fusion with the presynaptic membrane, thereby inhibiting exocytosis.
