SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION

Question 1

What is a synapse?

Answer 1

Each neuron is separated from the next by a synapse (which includes the space between them called the synaptic cleft)

Question 2

What is synaptic transmission?

Answer 2

Signals within neurons are transmitted electrically, however signals between neurons are transmitted chemically by synaptic transmission

Question 3

How do neurotransmitters and synaptic vesicles work at the end of chemical transmission?

Answer 3

Electrical impulses reaches the end of the neuron (presynaptic terminal) it triggers the release of neurotransmitters from tiny sacs called synaptic vesicles

Question 4

Describe in detail neurotransmitters

Answer 4

• Chemical that are released from a synaptic vesicle into the synapse by neurons
• They affect the transfer of an impulse to another nerve or muscle
• These neurotransmitters are ‘taken back up’ into the terminal buttons of neurons through the process of reuptake
• Or they are broken down by an enzyme

Question 5

what is action potential?

Answer 5

• Occurs when a neuron sends info down an axon, away from the cell body
• It is an explosion of electrical activity (this means that some event, stimulus, causes the resting potential to move forward

Question 6

Synaptic connections that are excitation or inhibition

Answer 6

The difference lies in the action of the neurotransmitter at the postsynaptic receptor
- Excitatory - they make it more likely the next neuron will fire
- Inhibitory - they make it less likely the next neuron will fire
Normal brain function depends upon a regulated balance between excitatory and inhibitory influences