Synapses (Tuesday)

Question 1

What is the purpose of a current clamp?

Answer 1

it sees how much a membrane potential changes in response to a current that’s injected

Question 2

What is the purpose of a voltage clamp?

Answer 2

it maintains a desired voltage using the injection of a current which reveals the dynamic of how a channel opens/closes during an action potential

Question 3

What is the purpose of a patch clamp?

Answer 3

it analyzes a single patch of the neuronal membrane in hopes of measuring the ionic current and characterization changes of a single channel

Question 4

What’s the difference between a chemical and electrical synapse?

Answer 4

the former releases transmitters when an action potential is reached while the later lets ions flow when an action potential is reached

Question 5

What does a gap junction consist of? And how does it work?

Answer 5

multiple connexons which let ions, sugars, amino acids, and nucleotides pass through

Question 6

How do action potentials flow through a gap junction?

Answer 6

it starts strong in cell one but get weaker in cell two with mild depolarization

Question 7

What can gap junctions do with neural oscillations?

Answer 7

they can sync action potentials and coordinate when they each activate (ones that listen are more likely to react to cells 1 and 2)