Neuronal Basics
This part of the neuron carries impulses toward the cell body.
What are dendrites?
These cells produce myelin in the peripheral nervous system.
What are Schwann cells?
This is the gap between two communicating neurons.
What is the synaptic cleft (synapse)?
The resting membrane potential is approximately this value.
What is -70mV?
This system includes the brain and spinal cord.
What is the Central Nervous System (CNS)?
This part of the neuron sends impulses away from the cell body.
What is the axon?
These CNS cells form myelin but do NOT aid regeneration.
What are oligodendrocytes?
These chemicals carry signals across the synapse.
What are neurotransmitters?
This event occurs when the membrane becomes less negative.
What is depolarization?
This division controls voluntary actions.
What is the Somatic Nervous System?
This structure contains organelles like mitochondria and the nucleus.
What is the soma?
This outer layer of Schwann cells helps guide axon regeneration.
What is the neurilemma?
These structures store neurotransmitters in axon terminals.
What are synaptic vesicles?
This ion is more concentrated inside the neuron at rest.
What is potassium (K⁺)?
The simplest nerve pathway is called this.
What is a Reflex Arc?
These regions lack insulating structure along certain parts of the axon and allow for rapid conduction of the action potential.
What are nodes of Ranvier?
These small CNS cells act as phagocytes.
What are microglial cells?
The influx of this ion into the axon terminal directly triggers synaptic vesicles to fuse with the membrane and release neurotransmitters.
What is calcium (Ca²⁺)?
This process allows impulses to jump between nodes of Ranvier, speeding conduction.
What is saltatory conduction?
These tracts carry sensory information to the brain.
What are ascending tracts?
Damage to this structure would NOT prevent a neuron from generating an action potential, but WOULD prevent communication with the next cell.
What are axon terminals?
This type of neuroglia helps form the blood-brain barrier and regulates nutrients.
Why are astrocytes?
These two types of neurotransmitter effects either increase or decrease likelihood of an action potential.
What are excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters?
A neuron is stimulated to -60 mV and does not fire, but at -55 mV it generates an action potential; this demonstrates both the threshold concept and this principle, where increasing stimulus strength does not change action potential amplitude.
What is the all-or-none response?
A single neuron receives input from multiple presynaptic neurons and integrates their signals to determine whether to fire; this organizational pattern is known as this.
What is convergence?