Physics of Neurons Essay

1. Neurons is a basic building block of the nervous system. The sensory nerves carry the message from body tissues to the brain and spinal chord to be processed. The motor neurons are then used to send instructions to the body tissue from the brain and spinal cord. Dendrites, which are connected to the body cell (soma) receive information and pass it through the axon. Myelin sheath covers the axon and helps speed the process. When triggered by a signals from our senses or other neurons, the neuron fires an impulse called the action potential. The resting potential is the neuron’s visual charge of positive

Neurons (also known as neurons, nerve cells and nerve fibers) are electrically excitable and the most important cells in the nervous system that functions to process and transmit information. Neurons have a large number of extensions called dendrites. They often look likes branches or spikes extending out from the cell body. It is primarily the surfaces of the dendrites that receive chemical messages from other neurons.

The cell body comprises of the nucleus and other organelles (Ward, 2010). The nucleus contains the genetic code, and this is involved with protein synthesis (He, 2013). The dendrites receive information from other neurons which are located in a close proximity (Kalat, 1995). The terminal of an axon compresses into a disc-shaped structure (Gross, 2010). This is where chemical signals also known as a neurotransmitter permit interaction amongst neurons, by means of a minute gap named a synapse (Martin, Carlson & Buskit, 2013). Both neurons which form the synapse are referred to as a presynaptic synapse (prior to the synapse) and postsynaptic (after the synapse), reflecting the direction of information flow (from axon to dendrite), (He, 2013).

As well as these there are also the axon of the cell which is covered in myelin sheaths which carried information away from the cell body and hands the action potentials, these are small short bursts of change in the electrical charge of the axon membrane through openings of ion channels, off to the following neurons dendrites through terminal buttons at the end of the axons. Whenever an action potential is passed through these terminal buttons it releases a chemicals that pass on the action potential on to the next neuron through the terminal button and dendrite connection. The chemicals that are

In the brain, neurons communicate between each other and with target cells via a great numbers of chemicals they release, so called neurotransmitters. A signal in the brain is sent from a presynaptic neuron to a postsynaptic cell through synaptic transmission, allowing the brain to process information in a rapid way. (Südhof, Starke and Boehm, 2008)

The action potential is connected to the end of the axon, which is a tube that extends from the soma and branches out. The action potential starts where it ends at the end of the axon and travels down to the terminal button, which contains synaptic vesicles. The synaptic vesicles store neurotransmitters once they are synthesized. Once that is done, the neurotransmitters releases from the presynaptic neuron, this is the neuron that transmits the message, and sends a message to the postsynaptic neuron. After the action potential gets to the terminal button, voltage dependent calcium goes to the presynaptic membrane and opens while calcium comes into the cell. The calcium hen connects to the synaptic vesicles and causes the vesicles to break and

The dendrites pick up the signal and activate the neuron's action potential that shoots an electric charge down the axon to its terminals and towards neighboring neurons. Neurotransmitters are stored in vesicles inside the terminal button of the axon; the vesicles are transported to the edge of the button and the neurotransmitters released into the synaptic gap. In the synapse, neurotransmitters can bind with a receptor site on the next neuron if the receptor site is the right type and is vacant. This is often described by a lock and key analogy, in that the neurotransmitters (like keys) can only fit into certain receptor sites (like

The axon does the opposite of the dendrites, and carries information into the cell body. The signals traveling through the axon are electrical impulses. The Node of Ranvier is a gap between two myelin sheaths. It allows water and waste to pass through the neuron. It also can generate electricity. The Myelin sheath protects the axon from any interactions with cells, atoms, or molecules outside the cell. Finally, the signal reaches the axon terminal bundle, it acts as a stimulus for the synaptic knobs. The nerve impulse reaches the knob, and a neurotransmitter is released, and it spreads to bind the receptors in/on the membrane leading to a nerve impulse in that cell.

4.On a neuron, the branch-like structures that receive messages from other neurons are the dendrites.

According to the book, “neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that transfer signals across the synapse”(pg48). The synapse is a junction between two neurons where the axon bulb of a neuron focused receptor sites into other neurons. According to Eroglu & Barres, We have a large number of synapses; the current estimates are more than 100 trillion synapses in the human brain . There is a neural structure in the brain that is complex, therefore synapses occur at several places along a neuron (dendrites, cell body, axon). There is also the axon that carries potentials information form the cell body to the synapse. When a signal is sent at a synapse, there is a calculable distance called synaptic gap, between the presynaptic (sending) and the

1c. Dendrites are what receive the electrical and chemical messages such as neurotransmitters, and the axons send information and release neurotransmitters. Dendrites are attached to the cell body, and the axon could be seen as a long tail extending from the cell body.

The neuron consists of dendrites that receive information and transmit it along the axon. The signal

The brain is the hub of the human (Homo sapiens) body’s abilities, the control center of every bodily function. Brain cells, more formally known as neurons, are the brain’s way of communication. Neurons communicate by sending and receive a message from another neuron using axons and dendrites (PubMed Health). An axon is the thread like piece of the neuron that allows the conduction of electrical impulses to other nerve cells. At the end of the axon, the electrical signal is converted into a chemical signal, and the axon releases chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are released into the space between the end of an axon and the tip of a dendrite from another neuron. After travelling the short distance, the neurotransmitter

They carry action potentials between the neurons within the central nervous system involved in reflexes. They can be stimulated by the signals which are sent to them from the sensory neurons. The interneurons may be able to receive information from the outside or the inside of the environment. There are the axons and also the dendrites which are present, these are limited to single brain area. The axon may be long or short. The interneurons can be found in the central nervous system and they release impulses between the neurons. There are three different types of relay neuron; these are the unipolar, this is a single prominent process from the cell body. Then there is bipolar, this is when there are two prominent processes from the cell body. Finally there is multipolar, this is when there are many processes from the cell body. However none of these processes are

Chapter two of our textbook explains the cells of the nervous system and nerve impulses. The nervous system consists on two types of cells: neurons and glia. “Neurons receive information and transmit it to other cells” (Kalat 28) . Glia do not transmit information, but they have many different types with many different functions (Kalat 33) . Dendrites and axons both branch off from the neuron. Dendrites receive information from other neurons and axons send the information to other neurons (Kalat 30) . Dendrites and axons “can change their branching patterns as a function of experience, age, and chemical influences” (Kalat 27). Each adult has an estimate of 100 billion neurons in their brain alone (Kalat 28).