CSE 528 Lecture Notes - Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potential, Excitatory Synapse, Electrical Synapse

• School: UW
• Department: Computer Science and Engineering
• Course: CSE 528
• Professor: Rajesh Rao

Document Summary

When the spike (action potential) reaches the end of an axon, we meet the synapse. A synapse is a connection or junction between two neurons: electrical synapses use gap junctions. Very similar to the connections in your technology: they allow for activity to be propagated from neuron a to b. These are essentially ionic channels spanning the membranes of both neurons a and b. If you have excitation on one side, and a higher concentration of na+ is on that side, it can flow through the gap junctions. These are typically found when you need neurons to synchronise, because they"re very fast. The other case would be an escape reflex, for example that of the crayfish: chemical synapses use neurotransmitters. Bags of neurotransmitters, known as vesicles, fuse with the membrane of a cell when a spike comes in, which causes the release into the synaptic cleft (the gap between the two neurons) of the neurotransmitters.