Scribd
Upload
80 views2 pages

Neural Transmission

Neural transmission occurs when a neuron is activated and sends an electrical impulse. The neuron reaches a threshold and changes from a resting potential to an action potential. The action potential travels along the neuron and causes neurotransmitters to be released at synapses to transmit signals to other neurons.

Uploaded by

somya mathur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
80 views2 pages

Neural Transmission

Neural transmission occurs when a neuron is activated and sends an electrical impulse. The neuron reaches a threshold and changes from a resting potential to an action potential. The action potential travels along the neuron and causes neurotransmitters to be released at synapses to transmit signals to other neurons.

Uploaded by

somya mathur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Neural Transmission

The function of a neuron is to transmit information within the nervous system. Neural transmission
occurs when a neuron is activated, or fired (sends out an electrical impulse). Activation (firing) of the
neuron takes place when the neuron is stimulated by pressure, heat, light, or chemical information
from other cells. (The type of stimulation necessary to produce firing depends on the type of
neuron.) The fluid inside a neuron is separated from that outside by a polarized cell membrane that
contains electrically charged particles known as ions. When a neuron is sufficiently stimulated to
reach the neural threshold (a level of stimulation below which the cell does not fire), depolarization,
or a change in cell potential, occurs.

Potentials. The term potential refers to a difference in electrical charges. Neurons have two types of
potentials, a resting potential and an action potential. The neural threshold must be reached before a
change from resting to action potential occurs (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Transmission of a Nerve Impulse

Resting potential is the potential maintained by the inactive neuron. When unstimulated, a neuron is
like a small battery and has a measurable negative electrical charge (about 70 millivolts) called the
resting potential.

Action potential is the potential produced when appropriate stimulation is high enough to reach the
neural threshold and causes the neuron to fire, that is, alters the membrane permeability. Alteration
of membrane permeability (polarization) allows a change of electrical charges (negative to positive)
that runs along the entire cell membrane. The neuron then returns to its resting electrical state, the
resting potential, until stimulated again. The rate of neural transmission, however, is independent of
the level of stimulation. That is, if the neural threshold is not reached, the neuron will not fire. If the
threshold is reached or exceeded, the amplitude of the action potential is the same regardless of the
level of stimulation.

The relationship between the level of stimulation and the production of a neural impulse is called the
all or none principle. Once triggered, the action potential continues the length of the axon without
diminishing because the action potential depends upon cell membrane permeability, a cell
characteristic, and not upon the strength of the triggering stimulus.

After the action potential occurs, however, there is a short period of refractoriness, which affects
neuron firing. During the first part of the refractory period (the absolute refractory period), the
neuron will not fire again no matter how great the stimulation. The absolute refractory period lasts
for only a short time. It is followed by the relative refractory period, during which a stronger than
usual stimulus is required to trigger the action potential before the neuron returns to resting state.
After the refractory period, the neuron will fire when the neural threshold is reached.

Synaptic transmission. The synapse is the name given the junction between neurons where
information is exchanged. The action potential causes information to be transmitted from the axon of
the first neuron (presynaptic neuron) to the dendrites or cell body of the second neuron
(postsynaptic neuron) by secretion of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are
stored in small containers (vesicles) located in knoblike structures (terminal buttons) on the axon
tips. The axon of the presynaptic neuron does not actually touch the dendrites of the postsynaptic
neuron and is separated from them by a space called the synaptic cleft. Stimulation of the
presynaptic neuron to produce an action potential causes the release of neurotransmitters into the
synaptic cleft. Most of the released neurotransmitters bind with molecules at special sites, receptors,
on the dendrites of the postsynaptic neuron. (Molecules of the neurotransmitter that do not bind to
receptors in the postsynaptic neuron are taken up again by the presynaptic neuron, a process called
reuptake).

You might also like