Action potential at the heart The basis of electrical excitation of the heart is the so-called action potential. It represents the biologically temporally limited change of an electrical voltage across the cell membrane, which ends in a muscle action, in this case the heartbeat. With a duration of about 200 to 400 milliseconds depending on … Action potential at the heart | Action potential
Synonyms Brain, CNS (central nervous system), nerves, nerve fibers Medical: Neuron, ganglion cell Greek: Ganglion = node Definition Nerve cells (neurons) are cells whose primary function is to transmit information by means of electrical excitation and synaptic transmission. The totality of nerve cells and other cells directly related to their function are called the nervous … Nerve cell
Function Nerve cells are able to process input signals and transmit new signals based on them. A distinction is made between excitatory and inhibitory nerve cells. Exciting nerve cells increase the probability of an action potential, while inhibiting ones reduce it. Whether a nerve cell excites or not depends basically on the neurotransmitter that this … Function | Nerve cell
Which different nerve cells are there? Nerve cells can be classified according to various criteria. Afferent cells send signals to the central nervous system (sensory), while efferent cells send signals to the periphery (motor). Particularly within the brain, a distinction can also be made between excitatory and inhibitory neurons, whereby inhibitory neurons usually have a … Which different nerve cells are there? | Nerve cell
Definition – What is a neurotransmitter? The human brain consists of an almost unimaginable number of cells. An estimated 100 billion neurons, which carry out the actual thinking work, and once again the same number of so-called glial cells, which support the neurons in their work, form the organ that makes us humans something special … Neurotransmitter
GABA The amino acid glutamate is known to most people as a food additive and flavor enhancer in a variety of ready meals. However, glutamate is much more important for us as the most important excitatory neurotransmitter in our nervous system. In a way, glutamate is therefore the antagonist of GABA. However, the two messenger … GABA | Neurotransmitter
Serotonin Serotonin, also called enteramine, is a so-called biogenic amine, which is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter. As such, it plays an important role in the central nervous system as well as in the nervous system of the intestine and in its function as a hormone in the cardiovascular system. Its name is derived … Serotonin | Neurotransmitter
Definition The synaptic gap is a space between two communicating nerve cells that plays an important role in the transmission of action potentials (nerve impulses). In it a modulation of signal transmission takes place, which has a great pharmacological importance. Construction of a synaptic cleft A synapse is the transition between two nerve cells or … Synaptic cleft
Functionality of chemical synapses Whenever a nerve cell sends a signal to a muscle, gland or other nerve cell, the transmission takes place via the synaptic gap, which is only about 20-30 nanometers wide. The long extensions of the nerve cells (also called “axons”) conduct the nerve impulse (i.e. the “action potential“) from the center … Functionality of chemical synapses | Synaptic cleft
Simplified pictorial representation For better understanding the following illustration: A group of hikers (=action potentials) wants to cross a river (=synaptic cleft) with boats (=synaptic vesicles), but there is only one docking and undocking point per side (=pre- & postsynaptic membrane). If they have successfully crossed the flow, they can continue their migration on the … Simplified pictorial representation | Synaptic cleft
What is that? /Definition Acetylcholine is one of the most important neurotransmitters both in humans and in many other organisms. In fact, acetylcholine already occurs in unicellular organisms and is considered to be a very old substance in the history of development. At the same time, it is the longest known neurotransmitter (it was first … Acetylcholine
Acetylcholine at the heart As early as 1921 it was discovered that a chemical substance must be present which transmits the electrical impulse transmitted via the nerves to the heart. This substance was initially called vagus substance after the nerve whose impulse it transmits. Later it was chemically correctly renamed acetylcholine instead. The nervus vagus, … Acetylcholine at the heart | Acetylcholine
