Chapter 41 - Neural Signaling (Complete)
Chapter 41 - Neural Signaling (Complete)
Chapter 41 - Neural Signaling (Complete)
detects and responds to stimuli, the changes that take place in its environment.
• The nervous system is composed mainly of two specialized types of cells: neurons and glial cells.
• The nervous system is the principal regulatory system in animals. Regulation requires
communication, and the nervous system transmits information to and from all parts of the
body.
• Neurobiology is one of the most exciting areas of biological research. Active areas of research
include neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers used by neurons to signal other neurons,
and the receptors that bind with the neurotransmitters.
• Neurogenesis, the production of new neurons, has been a very interesting focus of research.
neuron in resting state ➝ stimulus causes depolarization ➝ threshold reached ➝ action potential
transmits signal ➝ repolarization and return to resting state
action potential reaches synaptic terminal ➝ calcium ions enter synaptic terminal ➝ synaptic vesicles
release neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft ➝ neurotransmitter diffuses across synaptic cleft ➝
neurotransmitter binds with receptors in membrane of postsynaptic neuron ➝ ion channels open or
close, resulting in depolarization or hyperpolarization of postsynaptic membrane
41.5Neural Integration
• Each neuron may synapse with hundreds of other neurons. Indeed, thousands of synaptic
terminals of presynaptic neurons may cover as much as 40% of a postsynaptic neuron’s
dendritic surface and cell body.
➢ It is the job of the dendrites and the cell body of every neuron to integrate the messages
that continually bombard them.
• Neural integration is the process of summing, or integrating, incoming signals. EPSPs and IPSPs
are produced continually in postsynaptic neurons, and IPSPs cancel the effects of some EPSPs.
➢ It is important to remember that each EPSP and IPSP is not an all-or-none response.
Rather, each is a graded response that does not travel like an action potential but may
be added to or subtracted from other EPSPs and IPSPs.
• As the membrane of the postsynaptic neuron continuously updates its molecular tabulations,
the neuron may be inhibited or brought to threshold level. This mechanism integrates hundreds
of signals (EPSPs and IPSPs) before an action potential is actually transmitted along the axon of a
postsynaptic neuron.
➢ Local responses permit the neuron and the entire nervous system a far greater range of
response than would be possible if every EPSP generated an action potential.