BIOB34H3 Lecture 18: BIOB34_Lec18
29 Nov 2016
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Animals are composed of trillions of tiny little molecule factories that transform chemical energy into order. To coordinate all of the cells, animals use neurons, tree-like cells whose specialty is integrating incoming electrical signals in their dendrites and transmitting the result to other cells via action potentials in their axons. Describe the difference between chemical and electrical synapses. Understand how synapses enable presynaptic action potentials to cause postsynaptic currents. Explain how inputs from multiple presynaptic cells produce spatial and temporal summation. Understand how synaptic plasticity is the basis of learning and memory. Recall: each neuron is a little computer who"s job is to perform a simple computation and pas the signal along: neurons integrate (i. e. add up) signals coming into their dendrites. 2. neurons signal whether the sum is greater than threshold, via their axons. If the voltage at the axon hillock (vm) reaches threshold (t) an action potential is produced that gets propagated down the axon.
