PSYCH 3240 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Anandamide, Catecholamine, Cannabinoid
15 Sep 2016
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The key to understanding how neurons work and how they malfunction is the membrane potential, which is the difference in electrical charge between the inside and the outside of a cell. To record a neuron"s membrane potential, it is necessary to position the tip of one electrode inside the neuron and the tip of another electrode outside the neuron in the extracellular fluid. When the tip of the intracellular electrode is inserted into a neuron, a steady potential of about -70 millivolts (mv) is recorded. This steady membrane potential of about -70 mv is called the neuron"s resting potential and a neuron is said to be polarized. Like all salts in solution, the salts in neural tissue separate into positively and negatively charged particles called ions. Each na+ and k+ ion carries a single positive charge. In resting neurons, there are more na+ ions outside the cell and more.
