PSY 504 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Nitric Oxide, Dopaminergic, Otto Loewi
Document Summary
Otto loewi: tested with frog"s heart. Found that the vagus nerve exerts a chemical that decreases rate of beating. Accelerator nerve was found to increase the rate of beating. Loewi identified that: acetylcholine (ach) slows/inhibits frogs heart rate, epinephrine (ep or adrenaline) speeds up the frogs heart rate. Groups of neurons that release a chemical neurotransmitter of a certain type are named after that neurotransmitter: e. g neurons that release ach are called acetylcholine neurons or cholinergic neurons. Walter cannon demonstrated that cholinergic neurons and noradrenergic neurons play complementary roles in controlling many bodily functions in the ans. Rest and digest" to summarize the actions of acetylcholine neurons in the parasympathetic ans. Fight or flight" to summarize the collective excitatory actions of norepinephrine neurons in the sympathetic ans. The 3 mains parts of a synapse are: postsynaptic membrane, synaptic cleft, presynaptic membrane.
