Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In the nervous system, a synapse [1] is a structure that allows a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or a target effector cell. Synapses can be classified as either chemical or electrical, depending on the mechanism of signal transmission between neurons.
A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a synapse.The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell.
Axon terminals are specialized to release neurotransmitters very rapidly by exocytosis. [1] Neurotransmitter molecules are packaged into synaptic vesicles that cluster beneath the axon terminal membrane on the presynaptic side (A) of a synapse.
The synapses generated by a Mauthner cell are so powerful that a single action potential gives rise to a major behavioral response: within milliseconds the fish curves its body into a C-shape, then straightens, thereby propelling itself rapidly forward. Functionally this is a fast escape response, triggered most easily by a strong sound wave or ...
Two molecular mechanisms for synaptic plasticity involve the NMDA and AMPA glutamate receptors. Opening of NMDA channels (which relates to the level of cellular depolarization) leads to a rise in post-synaptic Ca 2+ concentration and this has been linked to long-term potentiation, LTP (as well as to protein kinase activation); strong depolarization of the post-synaptic cell completely ...
A neuromuscular junction (or myoneural junction) is a chemical synapse between a motor neuron and a muscle fiber. [1] It allows the motor neuron to transmit a signal to the muscle fiber, causing muscle contraction. [2] Muscles require innervation to function—and even just to maintain muscle tone, avoiding atrophy.
When NE is released into the synapse, it feeds back on the α 2 receptor, causing less NE release from the presynaptic neuron. This decreases the effect of NE. This decreases the effect of NE. There are also α 2 receptors on the nerve terminal membrane of the post-synaptic adrenergic neuron.
Ocular dominance columns were discovered in the 1960s by Hubel and Wiesel as part of their Nobel Prize winning work on the structure of the visual cortex in cats.Ocular dominance columns have since been found in many animals, such as ferrets, macaques, and humans. [2]