Gap junction

advantages and disadvantages for situations requiring signal transmission. One of the advantages of the use of an electrical synapse is speed, as electrical synapses allow action potentials to pass directly from neuron to neuron through the use of gap junctions. This direct passage and resulting speed of transmission isn’t present in chemical synapses. Chemical synapses rely on the transformation of the action potential into a chemical called the neurotransmitter, which is diffused across the…

of deafness has shown that mutations in the CX26 gene, located on human chromosome 13q11, cause non-syndromic recessive deafness (9, 10). Expression of GJB2 has been documented in a variety of cells and tissues. In the cochlea, CX26-containing gap junctions are proposed to maintain K homeostasis by ferrying K away from the hair cells during auditory transduction(11). Recently, it has been shown that the intercellular transduction of the second messenger inositol triphosphate (IP3) is also…

The human microbiome project The Human microbiome project was the first step into research about bacteria that is present in the human body, and the association with disease. The project was launched in 2007 and was set out to be a five year program. It was funded by the United States National Institute of Health (NIH) however it involved many specialist from many countries worldwide, the original funding was around $115 million. The main purpose of the project was to analyse “how changes in…

cardiac cells and formulate hypotheses for their observed response. The structure of cardiac muscle consists of myocardial cells which have a nucleus, contractile filaments (striations), several mitochondria and intercalated discs which contain gap junctions (Silverthorn, 2007). Surrounding the myocardial cells are t-tubules whereby electrical ions can flow into the cell membrane proteins and start action potentials (Silverthorn, 2007). Together, these structures give the heart its ability to…

atria’s contractile cells), AV node (found within the inferior part of the interatrial septum above the tricuspid valve this is where the action potential can be delayed momentarily this is attributed by the smaller diameter of fibers and less gap junctions as the atrial contracts before transmitting to the AV bundle), AV bundle (known to be the only electrical connection found between the atria and the ventricle allowing an action potential to travel from the interatrial to the…

To fully understand this Grip Strength exercise there most be an understanding of the foundational physiological mechanisms, which are involved. These mechanisms are all incorporated into the muscular system of the body and its foundational unit known as muscle. A muscle can be defined as a bundle of fibrous tissue connected to two or more bones by tendons giving it the ability to contract and therefore inducing movement to a specific part of the body. The muscles within the human body are…

This is the ~20 nm gap between the outer membrane and the part of the inner membrane that is known as the inner boundary membrane. All matrix proteins imported into the mitochondrion from the cytoplasm must pass through the outer and inner membrane and therefore also through…

Paracrine Signaling Signals that act locally between cells that are close together are called paracrine signals. Paracrine signals move by diffusion through the extracellular matrix. These types of signals usually elicit quick responses that last only a short amount of time. In order to keep the response localized, paracrine ligand molecules are normally quickly degraded by enzymes or removed by neighboring cells. Removing the signals will reestablish the concentration gradient for the signal,…

al 2016). In a single unit smooth muscle cell, gap junctions are used to send signals between the cells (Hill et. al 2016). However, in multiunit smooth muscles, the muscle cells function as independent units because there are few, if any, gap junctions (Hill et. al 2016). This would be used to describe a large artery or vein (Hill et. al 2016). Like skeletal muscles, smooth muscles use the contractile…

1. There are 3 types of neurons. Motor, sensory, and Interneurons. The main parts of the neuron are dendrites, the soma, the axon, the axon terminal, the synapse, and the myelin sheath. The dendrites are branch like bushy extensions that receive the information and conduct impulses towards the cell body. The soma, or cell body, makes sense of the information and works It out. It also triggers the action potential and all or nothing response. The axon is a neuron’s extension that sends messages…