PSYC 3530 Chapter Notes -Dendritic Spine, Axon Hillock, Axon Terminal
11 Nov 2013
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Epilepsy-- a disease in which discharges of abnormal electrical activity in the brain interfere with normal movements, thought, and consciousness. Each neuron has a single axon, extending out of an expansion of the cell body known as the axon hillock. The axon may have branches called axon collaterals, which usually emerge from it at right angles. Toward its end, the axon may divide into a number of smaller branches called teleodendria. At the end of each teleodendrion is a knob called a terminal button. The terminal button sits very close to a dendritic spine on another neuron, although it does not touch that spine. This almost connection, consisting of the surface of the axon"s end foot, the corresponding surface of the neighboring dendritic spine, and the space between the two, is the synapse. The cell is a miniature factory, with departments that cooperate to make, ship, and export proteins, the cell"s products.
