Synaptic Transmission Flashcards
It is the major process by which 💡electrical signals are 💡transferred between cells within the nervous system (or between neurons and muscle cells or sensory receptors).
Synaptic Transmission
Within the nervous system, synaptic transmission is usually conceived of as an 💡interaction between two neurons that occurs in a 💡point-to-point manner at specialized junctions called __.
synapses
Two main classes of synapses
- electrical
2. chemical
It is effectively a 💡low-resistance pathway between cells that allows current to flow directly from one cell to another and, more generally, allows the 💡exchange of small molecules between cells.
They are present between glial cells as well as between neurons.
LOW-PASS FILTERS
Simple and static
electrical synapses
It is the 💡morphological correlate of an electrical synapse.
These junctions are 💡plaque-like structures in which the plasma membranes of the coupled cells become closely apposed and filled with electron-dense material.
gap junction
Electrical synapses are __ (essentially no synaptic delay) and __ (i.e., current generated in either cell can f low across the gap junction to influence the other cell).
fast
bidirectional
Slow electrical events are __ than are fast signals such as action potentials. “Low-pass filters”
much more readily transmitted
One important role for neuronal gap junctions appears to be __.
synchronization of network activity
It also appears that the patterns of electrical coupling by gap junctions may be __.
highly specific
The properties of electrical synapses can be modulated by several factor:
voltage, intracellular pH, and [Ca++]
Chemical synaptic transmission was first demonstrated between the __ and the __ by a simple experiment by Otto Loewi.
vagus nerve
heart
What is the difference of the chemical synapses to electrical synapses?
There is no direct communication between the cytoplasm of the two cells.
Chemical intermediaries that mediates the interaction between the cells
Neurotransmitters
Chemical synapses are generally __, and thus one can refer to the presynaptic and postsynaptic elements.
unidirectional
It is often the 💡terminal portion of an axon and is packed with 💡small vesicles whose exact shape and size vary with the neurotransmitter they contain.
It has regions, known as 💡active zones, of electron dense material that corresponds to the proteins involved in transmitter release.
It has 💡mitochondria and 💡rough endoplasmic reticulum.
presynaptic element
It is also characterized by electron-dense material, which in this case corresponds to the 💡receptors for the neurotransmitter.
postsynaptic element
Types of chemical synapses:
axodendritic
axosomatic
axoaxonic dendrodendritic dendrosomatic
It is a complex synaptic arrangement that is found in the inferior olive and some other CNS regions.
It involves both chemical and electrical synapses among the participating elements.
Two dendritic spines are coupled by a gap junction.
An axon terminal packed with synaptic vesicles fills the upper right part of the panel.
glomerulus
It is a complex synaptic arrangement in which cells form both electrical and chemical synapses with each other.
mixed synapses
It is a complex synaptic arrangement
in which an 💡axoaxonic synapse is made onto the 💡axon terminal and influences the efficacy of that terminal’s synapse with yet a 💡third element.
serial synapses
It is a complex synaptic arrangement
in which 💡both cells can release transmitter to 💡influence the other.
reciprocal synapses
Synaptic transmission is initiated by arrival of the (1)__ at the (2)__. The action potential (3__ the terminal, which causes (4)__. The subsequent rise in [Ca++] within the terminal triggers the (5)__. The transmitter is then expelled into the (6)__, diffuses across it, and binds to specific receptors on the (7)__. Binding of transmitter to receptors then causes the (8)__ in the postsynaptic membrane, which in turn results in changes in the potential and resistance of the postsynaptic membrane that alter the excitability of the cell.
(1) action potential
(2) presynaptic terminal
(3) depolarizes
(4) Ca++ channels to open
(5) fusion of vesicles containing neurotransmitter with the plasma membrane
(6) synaptic cleft
(7) postsynaptic membrane
(8) opening (or less often, the closing) of ion channels
The changes in membrane potential of the postsynaptic cell are termed __.
excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs and IPSPs)
its probability of firing action potentials
cell’s excitability
Why is the transmitter acts for only a very short time (milliseconds)?
because reuptake and degradation mechanisms rapidly clear the transmitter from the synaptic cleft
See anki
See anki
It is the signal for neurotransmitter release.
Calcium entry
Ca++ will enter the terminal only if there is a favorable __ to do so.
Electrochemical gradient
Extracellular [Ca++] is (1)__ relative to intracellular [Ca++], which favors entry into the terminal; however, during the peak of the action potential, the membrane potential is (2)__, and the (3)__ opposes the entry of Ca++ because of its (4)__. Thus, at the peak of the action potential, relatively little Ca++ enters the terminal because although the membrane is highly permeable to Ca++, the overall driving force is small.
(1) high
(2) positive
(3) voltage gradient
(4) positive charge
If the membrane potential is rapidly made (1)__ again (because of either the end of the action potential or by adjusting the voltage clamp), Ca++ rushes into the terminal as a result of the (2)__ (which arises instantaneously on repolarization) and the (3)__ (which remains high because it takes the Ca++ channels several milliseconds to close in response to the new membrane potential), thereby resulting in release of transmitter and a postsynaptic response
(1) negative
(2) large driving force
(3) high membrane permeability to Ca++
It is small round or irregularly shaped organelles that stores the neurotransmitters.
Synaptic vesicles
It is an action potential in a motor neuron causes a large depolarization in the postsynaptic muscle.
end plate potential (EPP) (equivalent to an EPSP in a neuron)
Why is the EPP amplitude is reduced under conditions of low extracellular [Ca++]?
because the presynaptic Ca++ current is reduced, leading to a smaller rise in intracellular [Ca++], and transmitter release is proportional to [Ca++]
It is a small spontaneous depolarizations of the postsynaptic membrane that is observed when EPP is flactuating.
miniature end plate potentials (mEPPs)
It is a specific site where the small vesicles that contain nonpeptide neurotransmitters only can fuse with the presynaptic membrane
active zones
As with other exocytotic processes, neurotransmitter release involves:
SM (sec1/Munc18-like)
SNARE (soluble N-ethyl maleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) proteins
v-SNARES in the vesicle membrane
t-SNARES in the (target) presynaptic plasma membrane
Example of v-SNARE
synaptobrevin
Examples of t-SNARES;
syntaxin and SNAP-25
Their 💡zipper-like interactions with the assistance of 💡SM proteins bring the vesicle membrane and the presynaptic plasma membrane close together before fusion.
synaptobrevin
syntaxin
SNAP-25
It is a toxin produce by 💡Clostridium botulinum that targets SNARE proteins which disrupt synaptic transmission.
Botulinum toxins
It is a SNARE protein that acts as the 💡Ca++ sensor and, even more specifically, that the second of its two cytoplasmic domains contains the Ca++ binding site. Its binding with calcium will trigger the 💡fusion of a docked vesicle and allowing release of its neurotransmitter.
It is degraded by botulinum toxins.
synaptotagmin
During synaptic transmission, __ to release their contents into the synaptic cleft.
vesicles must fuse with the plasma membrane
Two distinct mechanisms by which vesicles are retrieved after release of their neurotransmitter content:
endocytotic pathway
“kiss and run.”
It involves transient fusion of the vesicle to the synaptic membrane which will leads to the formation of a pore through which the transmitter is expelled, but there is no wholesale collapse of the vesicle into the membrane.
More rapid recycling mechanism
Kiss and run
Following vesicle fusion the neurotransmitter molecules are released and diffuse across the synaptic cleft (a very rapid process) and bind to receptors on the postsynaptic membrane which will lead to the opening of?
ion channels
ligand gated (opening and closing are primarily controlled by the binding of neurotransmitter)
It is a channel that are both ligand and voltage gated
NMDA (N-methyl-Daspartate) channels
“fast” synaptic transmission
ionotropic receptors
“slow” synaptic transmission
metabotropic receptors
EPSPs are always __, and IPSPs are usually __.
depolarizing potentials
hyperpolarizing
If acetylcholine-gated channels open when the membrane is at its (1)__, a large inward (2)__ and a small outward (3) __ will flow through the (4)__ thereby resulting in a net inward current, which acts to (5)__ the membrane.
(1) resting potential
(2) Na+ current
(3) K+ current
(4) acetylcholine channel,
(5) depolarize
The net inward current that results from opening such channels is called __.
**refer to previous card
excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC)
It is the potential at which there is 💡no EPSP (or EPSC).
** if the membrane potential is depolarized enough, there will be a point at which the Na+ and K+ currents through the channel are equal and opposite, and thus there is no net current and no EPSP.
Hyperpolarize
reversal potential
It is a 💡key criterion for demonstrating the 💡chemical-gated as opposed to the voltage-gated nature of a synaptic response because currents through voltage-gated channels do not reverse, except at the Nernst potential of the ion for which they are selective (and then only if the channel is open at that potential).
Reversal potential
What is the difference of IPSP to EPSP?
This difference makes IPSPs to have a reversal potential equal to the Nernst potential of the ion carrying the underlying current.
IPSP channels are permeable to only a single ionic species, either Cl− or K+.
The key distinction between inhibitory and excitatory synapses (and IPSPs and EPSPs) is (1)__: EPSPs (2)__ the probability, whereas IPSPs (3) the probability.
(1) how they affect the probability of the cell firing an action potential
(2) increase
(3) decrease
It is the ratio of 💡EPSP amplitude to the amplitude needed to reach the 💡threshold to trigger an action potential.
It quantifies the strength of the excitatory synapses.
Safety factor
Most synapses have __, and thus it takes the summed EPSPs of multiple active synapses to trigger an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron.
low safety factors (<1)
These are diseases of the neuromuscular junction where the EPPs are reduced such that the safety factor can fall below 1, and thus the EPPs sometimes fail to trigger action potentials in the muscle fibers, leading to weakness.
myasthenia gravis and Lambert-Eaton syndrome
It refers to the fact that EPSPs that are separated by a latency less than their duration can 💡sum.
EPSPs in response to two spikes in the same axon occurring in rapid succession
Temporal summation
It refers to the fact that synaptic potentials generated by 💡different synapses can interact.
Responses evoked by synapses that are 💡electrically distant from each other (1 and 3).
The combined EPSP amplitude may then reach threshold and lead to spiking of the cell.
Spatial summation
That is, when synapse 2 is active, channels are opened in the cell membrane, which means that it is more leaky. Therefore, when synapse 4 is also active, more of its EPSC will be lost (shunted) through the dendritic membrane, and less current will be left to travel down the dendrite to the initial segment. The result is that synapse 4 causes a smaller EPSP at the initial segment than it would have generated in isolation. Nevertheless, the combined EPSP is still larger than an EPSP caused by either synapse 2 or 4 alone.
Sublinear summation
Modulation of synaptic activity
Paired-pulse facilitation
Posttetanic potentiation
Synaptic depression
When a presynaptic axon is stimulated twice in rapid succession, it is often found that the 💡postsynaptic potential evoked by the 💡second stimulus are 💡larger in amplitude than the one evoked by the first.
Relatively rapid and short-lasting change in synaptic efficacy
paired-pulse facilitation (PPF)
What is the difference if PPF and temporal summation?
Temporal summation, in which two EPSPs overlap and sum to a larger response; with PPF the second EPSP itself is greater in size.
It is similar to PPF; however, in this case the 💡responses are compared before and after stimulation of the presynaptic neuron tetanically (tens to hundreds of stimuli at a high frequency).
Such a tetanic stimulus train causes an increase in synaptic efficacy
Posttetanic potentiation (PTP)
What is the similarity and difference of PTP and PPF?
PTP, like PPF, is an enhancement of the postsynaptic response, but it lasts longer