STUDY GUIDE:  Lecture 18: Electrical communication - the nerve impulse
revised 05/05/2004 09:53 AM

Purves 6th edition (5th ed.)  [7th ed.]

• Ch. 44 esp 785-792 (Ch. 41 esp 916-922) [Ch 44 esp 855-863] Synapses

Action Potential, cont. -- Propagation

• Generating an action potential -- ion currents/channels
• Moving the message quickly down the neuron
  • increase diameter -- decrease axial resistance
  • myelination -- increase membrane resistance (decrease ion flow out)

Synaptic Transmission -- Moving the message on to the next cell

• Presynaptic
  • neurotransmitters
  • release of neurotransmitters
• Post-Synaptic
  • Receptors
  • EPSP, IPSP
• Next Time -- wrap up of receptors, summation, organization of neurons into circuits & overall nervous system

Both these texts give similar and detailed explanations, so it's a good idea to read one of them, but don't bother reading both:

• Sherwood 5th edition [4th edition] 
  • Ch 4 -- 113-128 [103-119]  myelination & synapses
• Becker 5th edition (4th ed)
• 241-243 (248-251) myelination
• 243-250 ( 251-259) synapses

• Synapse between neurons (QuickTime)
• Effect of myelination on action potential
• How drugs work at the synapse
• Neuronal synapse Scroll halfway down for an explanation of the proteins involved in exocytosis of vesicles in the synapse, from Mark Dubin

• From Clear-Cut Endings to Complex Beginnings: Researchers Probe the Origins of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease.  A disease of myelin.
• Brain Briefings Short readings on major research findings from the past 4 years.  Compiled for the general public by the Society for Neurosciences.
• Related Nobel prize research
  • 1936: Dale and Loewy Neurotransmitters
  • 2000: Carlsson, Greengard, Kandel  Signal transduction in nervous system
• Methods in neuroscience
  • Squid giant synapse - see the axons
  • Patch clamp technique

• Multiple sclerosis and other diseases in which myelin degenerates, from the Merck Manual

• What are the advantages of having myelinated neurons?  If there are these advantages, why aren't all neurons myelinated?
• What happens when the action potential reaches the pre-synaptic side of the axon terminal?
• What happens on the post-synaptic side?  
• Synapses are classified as inhibitory vs excitatory and direct vs. indirect. What are the features of each kind? Why are direct/indirect sometimes called fast/slow instead?
• What are the common neurotransmitters?