PSYCH261 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Myelin, Peripheral Nervous System, Extracellular Fluid
12 Aug 2017
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Document Summary
Blood-brain barrier and structural and nutritional roles. Attach to and patch up gaps in the capillaries in the brain. Subtle chemical balances need to be controlled in the brain. Take nutrient from the blood, absorb them into themselves and pass it on to neurons or oligo. Main ways to get nutrients in cells and in the brain. Physically isolates the synapse and keeps chemical from getting out or getting into the synapse. Has chemical interactions with chemicals inside the synapse. Glutamate; astrocytes will remove some of this from the synapse and absorb it after it is transferred to the next dendrite. This is important because if glutamate is there in too high of a concentration, it will be toxic to the cell. A single astrocyte can do the isolation on multiple synapses. Works to synchronize the activity of different synapses. Important role; synchronized firing activity is related to consciousness in. Presynaptic axon terminal + postsynaptic dendrite + astrocyte.
