PSY 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Axon Hillock, Motor Neuron, Schwann Cell

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2301
• Professor: Patrick Davidson

Document Summary

Diffusion: movement of ions from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentrationthrough random movement. Concentration gradient: differents in the relative abundance of a substance among regions of a container; allows the substance to diffuse from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration. Ion movement can be described by concentration gradient (amount of ions in each region) or cvoltage gradient (charge of each region. Voltage gradient: difference in charge between two regions that allows a flow of current if the two regions are connected: apposite chargeds attract, similar charges repel, ex salt in water. They are distributed across the cell membrane evenly: maintaining resting potential, channels and pumps help maintain the distribution of ions inside and outside the cell theses three do this by: The membrane is relatively impermeable to large molecules so the negatively charged proteins remain inside the cell which keeps the inside of the cell negative.