Neuronal Excitability!
In Unit 11, we are studying neuronal excitability.
That is how neurons react to information and transfer that information to other
neurons. I have separated the main ideas of neuronal excitability into separate web
pages. Here's the layout (and why) for this unit:
 | Gated channels
You will learn about gated channels and how they work.
|
| Action potentials
These are the output signals of neurons, produced at the axon hillock.
These run down axons. We won't discuss these in dendrites or cell bodies,
since they are only relevant for axons.
 | Saltatory conduction
Here you examine the difference between action potentials that run down
myelinated axons versus those that run down unmyelinated axons.
|
|
| Synapses
You already began to learn about these with the NMJ... but now you'll
learn more about them.
| neurotransmitters
These are the chemicals released at the synapse... one of them is ACh,
but there are more than 50 that we know about.
|
| postsynaptic potentials
Synapses have to bring input to the dendrites of neurons. The
dendrites are postsynaptic. The dendrites have to turn the synaptic information into
electrical events. These events are called postsynaptic potentials.
|
|
| Information
processing
Integration, convergence, and divergence of information.
|
Head on to those pages to learn the information for
this week! Try to go in order!
|
