The Importance Of Neurons And Nerve Cells

Neurons and nerve cells are the fundamental cells which make up the nervous system. The function of neurons is to send and receive messages or nerve impulses. A neuron is said to have central cell body and consists of two arms. Dendrites transport messages to the cell body; while the axon migrates messages away from the cell body. Impulses move from one neuron to another by going over small gaps called a synapse. There are 3 types of neurons which include: sensory, motor and association neuron. It has been mentioned that sensory neurons transport information about stimuli for example light, heat and chemicals in and out of the body to the central nervous system. Motor neurons provide instructions from the central nervous system to other parts of your body, for instance, muscles or glands. Association neurons join sensory and motor neurons.
It has been said that a neuron is an individual cell whilst a group of neurons create a nerve. Neurons contain nerve impulses …show more content…
According to (Patrick 2013) Cholinergic receptors also called auto receptors exist at the terminus of the presynaptic neuron. These receptors serve to provide a way of local control over nerve transmission. Once acetylcholine is released from the neuron, a part of it migrates its way to these auto receptors and switch them on. It is then said to have effect of inhibiting more release of acetylcholine. The presynaptic has receptors for noradrenaline, this functions as an additional control system for acetylcholine release. (Patrick 2013) states ‘branches from the sympathetic nervous system follow through to the cholinergic synapses and once the sympathetic nervous system is active, noradrenaline gets released and then binds to these receptors’. The effect is said to inhibit the release of acetylcholine. This incidentally, enhances noradrenaline activity at organs which are aimed at by decreasing cholinergic activity.