HMB320H1 Lecture Notes - Electric Current, Alpha And Beta Carbon, Cytoskeleton
Document Summary
The cast of chemicals: at rest, the cytosol along the inside surface of the membrane has a negative electrical charge compared to the outside. Referred to as the resting membrane potential. When a cell with excitable membrane is not generating impulses, it is said to be at rest. In the resting neuron, the cytosol along the inside surface of the membrane has a negative electrical charge compared to the outside. The axonal membrane has properties that enable it to conduct a special type of signal the nerve impulse, or action potential - that overcomes these biological constraints. Action potentials do not diminish over distance. They are 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.
