APA 2120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Auditory Cortex, Endoplasmic Reticulum, Motor Neuron

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Human Kinetics
• Course: APA 2120
• Professor: Tony Carlsen

Document Summary

V1 primary visual cortex (occipital lobe) The primary purpose of a nerve cell is to receive, conduct, and transmit signals. Neurons propagate signals in the form of action potentials which can travel great distances on an axon without weakening. To transmit an action potential over such a distance without weakening, requires that the signal is continuously re-ampliied along the way. The central players in this process are the voltage-gated sodium channels; which undergo a cycle of inely choreographed conformational changes. When an action potential passes, sodium channels open in response to membrane depolarization. Sodium ions rush into the axon further polarizing its membrane. Within a fraction of . 1000 of a second however, the sodium channels switch to an inactivated state (closed) but also refractory to opening. This way the membrane potential can recover quickly after an action potential has passed.