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These proteins do not share a characteristic that would make them identifiable as synaptic vesicle proteins, and little is known about how these proteins are specifically deposited into synaptic vesicles. Many but not all of the known synaptic vesicle proteins interact with non-vesicular proteins and are linked to specific functions. [4]
The neurovascular unit is made up of vascular cells (including endothelium, pericytes, and smooth muscle cells), glia (astrocytes and microglia), and neurons with synaptic junctions for signaling. [1] Cerebral vessels, namely arterioles and the perivascular compartment, form the network of the NVU. [7]
Neurons are polarised cells that are specialised for the conduction of action potentials also called nerve impulses. [1] They can also synthesise membrane and protein. Neurons communicate with other neurons using neurotransmitters released from their synapses, and they may be inhibitory, excitatory or neuromodulatory. [5]
Neurotransmitter transporters are a class of membrane transport proteins that span the cellular membranes of neurons. Their primary function is to carry neurotransmitters across these membranes and to direct their further transport to specific intracellular locations. There are more than twenty types of neurotransmitter transporters. [1]
Neurons expressing certain types of neurotransmitters sometimes form distinct systems, where activation of the system affects large volumes of the brain, called volume transmission. Major neurotransmitter systems include the noradrenaline (norepinephrine) system, the dopamine system, the serotonin system, and the cholinergic system, among others.
Neurons communicate with other cells via synapses, which are specialized connections that commonly use minute amounts of chemical neurotransmitters to pass the electric signal from the presynaptic neuron to the target cell through the synaptic gap. Neurons are the main components of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoans.
An axon, also called a nerve fiber, is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell that conducts electrical impulses called action potentials away from the neuron's cell body to transmit those impulses to other neurons, muscle cells, or glands.
The neurovascular unit regulates cerebral blood flow so that activated neurons can be supplied with energy in the right amount and at the right time. [1] Because the brain would quickly suffer damage from any stoppage in blood supply, the cerebral circulatory system has safeguards including autoregulation of the blood vessels.