Front | Back |
List the three structures of the neuron
|
Axon
Dendrite
Cell Body
|
What property of neurons allows them to communicate?
|
They are excitable.
|
What 3 things can neurons communicate with?
|
Other
neurons, muscles, and glands
|
What are the junctions between neurons called?
|
Synapses
|
What is the relationship between axon length and cell
body size?
|
Longest axons are
associated with the longest cell bodies
|
In long neurons, what makes up most of the cell’s
volume?
|
Axons
|
What actually insulates the axon?
|
Tightly wound cell membrane after the cytoplasm has been squeezed out
|
Why does it take many Schwann cells to insulate a single
axon?
|
Due to axon length
|
What are
the gaps between regions of myelination called? Why are they important?
|
Nodes of Ranvier; they aid in salutatory conduction;
essential for conduction of action potential
|
What does
an action potential consist of?
|
A large change in membrane potential from a resting value
of –70mV to a peak of about +30mV and a return to –70mV
|
In what
part of the neuron is the action potential generated?
|
Axon hillock
|
What is
special about this part of the neuron?
Why are action potentials generated here?
|
Signals from the dendrites and cell body reach axon
hillock and cause depolarization
|
When does
the action potential begin?
|
Signals from the dendrites and cell body reach
the axon hillock and cause the membrane potential there to become more positive
(depolarization).
|
What happens at threshold?
|
If
the stimulus at the axon hillock causes the neuron to depolarize by about 15mV
and reaches a trigger point called threshold
|
What
happens if the stimulus is too weak to achieve threshold?
|
It does not reach threshold and does not produce an action potential
|