NROB60H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Lipid Bilayer, Resting Potential, Chemical Polarity
Document Summary
Action potential: do not diminish over distance; signals of fixed size and duration. Information is encoded in the frequency of action potentials of individual neurons, as well as in the distribution and number of neurons firing action potentials in a given nerve. Information is encoded in the pattern of electrical impulses. When a cell with excitable membrane is not generating impulses, it is said to be at rest. In the resting neuron, cytosol along the inside surface of the membrane has a negative electrical charge compared to the outside: ^resting membrane potentials/resting potential: Action potential is a reversal of this condition. Three main players in resting membrane potential: salty fluid on either side of membrane, membrane, proteins that span the membrane. Water is the main ingredient of the fluid inside the neuron, intracellular fluid or cytosol. Fluid that bathes the neuron is the extracellular fluid.
