GE CLST 73A Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Motor Neuron, Extracellular Fluid, Fluid Compartments

• School: UCLA
• Department: General Education Clusters
• Course: GE CLST 73A
• Professor: Chandler, S.H.

Document Summary

Neurophysiology: the study of the specialized life processes that allow neurons to use chemical and electrical processes to sum up vast amounts of information, and then pass information onto other neurons. Electrical signals are the vocabulary of the nervous system. Polarized: livings cells are more negative on the inside than outside thus no difference in electrical charge between the inside and outside of cell. Ion: electrically charged molecule by gaining or losing one or more electrons. Anions: negatively charged ion (protein or a chloride ion) Cations: a positively charged ion (potassium or sodium ion) All of the ions are dissolved in the intracellular fluid (cytoplasm) inside the cell and the extracellular fluid surrounding the cell membrane. A microelectrode is an especially small electrode used to record electrical potentials inside living cells (proved neurons are more negative on the inside. ) Resting potential is the difference in electrical potential across the membrane of a nerve cell at rest.