PSC 101- Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam ( 13 pages long!)
Document Summary
Chemical communication: 1) action potential travels down the axon to axon terminal, transmitters have to bind with postsynaptic receptors- to do their job- and cause an epsp or. Ipsp: epsp or ipsps spread toward the postsynaptic axon hillock, transmitter is inactivated or removed- action is brief, transmitter may active presynaptic auto receptors decreasing release. Neurotransmitters- not exhaustive; allow for specific signaling to the brain: some neurons only release one neurotransmitter, some release several, create epsp or ipsp, one way of creating variation in signaling. If there is no acetylcholine, there is no epsp. Receptors- play an important role in neural signaling. Ionotropic receptors- open when bound by a transmitter: faster way, metabotropic receptors- bind most transmitters; recognize the transmitter but instead activate. On the exam, these will be worth 2. 5 points each. In general, the action potential is first initiated at the: synapse, dendrites, axon hillock, node of ranvier.
