PS263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Endoplasmic Reticulum, Multipolar Neuron, Stellate Cell
Document Summary
There are two main kinds of cells in the nervous system: neurons and glia. Neurons are cells so let"s examine the parts of a cell (the entire body, including the brain, is made up of cells that are similar in many ways) Cell membrane which is composed of a phospholipid bilayer. The cell membrane is active i. e. : it is semi-permeable. It allows certain compounds to enter the cell and certain compounds to leave the cell. One critical feature of the cell membrane is that it contains surface proteins: these are proteins that adhere to the cell membrane. When particular molecules bind with the surface protein, this can lead to the transfer of a signal to the inside of the neuron. Inner surface proteins are the other type of surface protein. These proteins serve to regulate cellular activity (by, for instance, bringing together constituent chemicals required for different kinds of complex molecules).
