The central nervous system, which is responsible for coordinating response to stimuli in all Eumatozoans and processing all the information obtained from all the distinct parts of the body, is made up two types of specialised cells known as the nerve cells (neurons) and the glial cells (support cells). A neuron is defined by Martini as a “cell in neural tissue that is specialized for intercellular communication through changes in membrane potential and synaptic connections” [5] where as a glial cell is a support cell that surrounds and insulates some structures of the neuron. This essay is mainly going to focus in detail on neurons, their basic structure and how they communicate. It is going to explore how an electrical signal is passed on
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This allows the action potential to move unidirectional. For instance, an action potential at the dendrites will move to the cell body, and then from the cell body it will be propagated in one direction along the axon until it gets to the terminal. The axons of some neurons have an extra layer called a myelin sheath (myelinated). The myelin sheath is an insulator that helps increase the velocity at which an action potential is propagated along an axon. The myelin sheath is commonly made of a type of glial cell known as the Schwann cell. The Schwann cells have small gaps between them termed nodes of Ranvier. Kendal and colleagues state that the action potential moves faster along the internode (myelin sheath) because of the low capacitance of the myelin sheath. Its speed decreases as it reaches a node of Ranvier and the electrical impulse jumps from node to node increasing the speed of conduction. This is known as saltatory conduction. There are a number of neurological diseases such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome that cause demyelination of neurons which results in slow conduction of impulses and movement and …show more content…
Action potential should travel in one direction and can only be generated if a threshold potential difference is established. The postsynaptic membrane has receptors that are specific to one neurotransmitter. There are a lot more stages of the process of neural communication that are still being studied in modern Neuroscience. Learning about neural communication has been very essential in Science and Medicine. Complications in neural communication results in decreased quality of life in organisms, therefore it is essential to understand the basis of neural communication so as to be able to correctly direct our current research on how to tackle these
This allows the action potential to move unidirectional. For instance, an action potential at the dendrites will move to the cell body, and then from the cell body it will be propagated in one direction along the axon until it gets to the terminal. The axons of some neurons have an extra layer called a myelin sheath (myelinated). The myelin sheath is an insulator that helps increase the velocity at which an action potential is propagated along an axon. The myelin sheath is commonly made of a type of glial cell known as the Schwann cell. The Schwann cells have small gaps between them termed nodes of Ranvier. Kendal and colleagues state that the action potential moves faster along the internode (myelin sheath) because of the low capacitance of the myelin sheath. Its speed decreases as it reaches a node of Ranvier and the electrical impulse jumps from node to node increasing the speed of conduction. This is known as saltatory conduction. There are a number of neurological diseases such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome that cause demyelination of neurons which results in slow conduction of impulses and movement and …show more content…
Action potential should travel in one direction and can only be generated if a threshold potential difference is established. The postsynaptic membrane has receptors that are specific to one neurotransmitter. There are a lot more stages of the process of neural communication that are still being studied in modern Neuroscience. Learning about neural communication has been very essential in Science and Medicine. Complications in neural communication results in decreased quality of life in organisms, therefore it is essential to understand the basis of neural communication so as to be able to correctly direct our current research on how to tackle these