Textbook Chapter 2.1-2.3 Flashcards
An autoimmune disease where the immune system breaks down proteins in the nervous system that allow cells to receive messages:
Myasthenia Gravis
The part of the nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord:
The Central Nervous System
The part of the nervous system that consists of the nerves and most of the sensory organs:
The Peripheral Nervous System
Bundles of thousands of individual neurons, all wrapped in a tough protective membrane:
Nerves
They transmit messages through the nerve:
Nerve Fibers
They communicate information about sensations from the environment:
Sensory Neurons
They contract muscles to elicit behavior:
Motor Neurons
Neurons that lie entirely within the CNS and help with the cognitive aspect of behaviors:
Interneurons
The basic information-processing and information-transmitting unit of the nervous system:
Neuron
A generic term for projections from the soma, including dendrites and axons:
Neuronal Processes
Contains the organelles, nucleus, and much of the machinery involved in the life processes of the cell:
The Soma
They receive messages from neurons, transmitting neural messages across the synapse:
Dendrites
A small space between the terminal buttons of the sending cell and a portion of the somatic or dendritic membrane of the receiving cell, where communication typically proceeds in one direction:
Synapse
Function of the Axon:
Carries information from the cell body to the terminal buttons
The basic message the axon carries:
Action Potential
A brief electrical and chemical event that starts at the end of the axon near the cell body at the axon hillock and travels to the terminal buttons:
Action Potential
A system that transports items rapidly and efficiently inside the axon, similar to a subway system:
Axoplasmic Transport
A protein that helps transport molecules down the axon by attaching to cargo and walking along microtubules, powered by ATP:
Kinesin
It carries substances from the terminal buttons to the soma, known as retrograde axoplasmic transport:
Dynein
A fatty substance covering the axon that provides insulation for the electrical message carried along the axon membrane:
Myelin Sheath
They secrete neurotransmitters when an action potential reaches the end of the axon, which either excites or inhibits the receiving cell and helps determine if an action potential will occur:
Terminal Buttons
It defines the boundary of the neuron, consisting of a double layer of lipid molecules:
Cell Membrane
It provides the neuron with its shape using a framework of protein strands:
Cytoskeleton
Protein strands that make up the cytoskeleton and form a bundle of 13 protein filaments arranged around a hollow core:
Microtubules
