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Answer Keys Nerve Cell
Answer Keys Nerve Cell
Answer Keys
Guided Practice………………... p. 2
Independent Practice……….. p. 5
Vocabulary………………………. p. 6
Assessment……………………… p. 8
Diagram of Synapse
5. After the electrochemical charge in the cell reaches its action potential, repolarization
occurs where the inside of the nerve cell has a negative charge again and goes back to
its resting potential.
6. The electrical signals transmit from node to node, specifically, at the Nodes of Ranvier,
between the myelin sheaths, where a salutatory conduction occurs (jumping impulse).
Sources:
MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary
Medical Dictionary - TheFreeDictionary
9. Depolarization: loss of polarization; especially : loss of the difference in charge between the
inside and outside of the plasma membrane of a muscle or nerve cell due to a change in
permeability and migration of sodium ions to the interior.
10. Efferent neuron: A neuron whose axon carries motor impulses away from the brain or
spinal cord.
11. Endocytosis: incorporation of substances into a cell by phagocytosis or pinocytosis.
12. Exocytosis: the release of cellular substances (as secretory products) contained in cell
vesicles by fusion of the vesicular membrane with the plasma membrane and subsequent
release of the contents to the exterior of the cell.
13. Generator potential: stationary depolarization of a receptor that occurs in response to a
stimulus and is graded according to its intensity and that results in an action potential when
the appropriate threshold is reached.
14. Glia: supporting tissue that is intermingled with the essential elements of nervous tissue
especially in the brain, spinal cord, and ganglia, is either of ectodermal or mesodermal
origin, and is composed of a network of fine fibrils and of flattened stellate cells with
numerous radiating fibrillar processes.
15. Ion: an atom or group of atoms that carries a positive or negative electric charge as a result
of having lost or gained one or more electrons
16. Ion channel: a cell membrane channel that is selectively permeable to certain ions (as of
calcium or sodium).
17. Myelin sheath: the insulating covering that surrounds an axon with multiple spiral layers of
myelin, that is discontinuous at the nodes of Ranvier, and that increases the speed at which
a nerve impulse can travel along an axon
18. Nerve conduction: the transmission of an impulse along a nerve fiber.
19. Neuron: one of the cells that constitute nervous tissue, that have the property of
transmitting and receiving nervous impulses, and that are composed of somewhat reddish
or grayish protoplasm with a large nucleus containing a conspicuous nucleolus, irregular
cytoplasmic granules, and cytoplasmic processes which are highly differentiated frequently
as multiple dendrites or usually as solitary axons and which conduct impulses toward and
away from the nerve cell body.
20. Neurotransmitter: a substance (as norepinephrine or acetylcholine) that transmits nerve
impulses across a synapse.
21. Nodes of Ranvier: a small gap in the myelin sheath of a myelinated nerve fiber.
22. Nucleus: a cellular organelle of eukaryotes that is essential to cell functions (as
reproduction and protein synthesis), is composed of nuclear sap and a nucleoprotein-rich
network from which chromosomes and nucleoli arise, and is enclosed in a definite
membrane.
23. Oligodendrocytes: a glial cell resembling an astrocyte but smaller with few and slender
processes having few branches.
24. Pinocytosis: the uptake of fluid and dissolved substances by a cell by invagination and
pinching off of the cell membrane.
25. Receptors: a cellular entity (as a beta-receptor or alpha-receptor) that is a postulated
intermediary between a chemical agent (as a neurohormone) acting on nervous tissue and
the physiological or pharmacological response.
26. Repolarization: restoration of the difference in charge between the inside and outside of
the plasma membrane of a muscle fiber or cell following depolarization.
27. Resting potential: the membrane potential of a cell that is not exhibiting the activity
resulting from a stimulus
28. Schwann cell: a cell that forms spiral layers around a myelinated nerve fiber between two
nodes of Ranvier and forms the myelin sheath consisting of the inner spiral layers from
which the protoplasm has been squeezed out.
29. Synapse: the place at which a nervous impulse passes from one neuron to another.
30. Synaptic Cleft: the space between neurons at a nerve synapse across which a nerve impulse
is transmitted by a neurotransmitter.
31. Synaptic vesicle: a small secretory vesicle that contains a neurotransmitter, is found inside
an axon near the presynaptic membrane, and releases its contents into the synaptic cleft
after fusing with the membrane.
First, information is received at the dendrites of the nerve cell. Second, the information
is transmitted by electrochemical impulses, and they travel to the axon hillock where a
generator potential occurs through depolarization. Through depolarization the
electrochemical impulses reaches their action potential, repolarization occurs and
continues along the axon. Third, along the axon, electrochemical impulses travel along an
electrochemical gradient. This electrochemical gradient consists of the axon having a
negative charge on the inside.
Fourth, electrochemical impulses are transmitted along the axon using sodium Na+ and
potassium K+ ion channels along the cell membrane of the axon. For every 3 sodium ions
entering the electrochemical gradient, 2 potassium ions come out. Depolarization occurs.
Furthermore, when the inside of the axon has a positive charge because contains more
positive ions, it reaches its action potential to about +40 millivolts. After the
electrochemical charge in the cell reaches its action potential, repolarization occurs
where the inside of the nerve has a negative charge again and goes back to its resting
potential to about -70 millivolts.
Sixth, the electrical signals transmit from node to node, specifically, at the Nodes of
Ranvier, between the myelin sheaths, where a salutatory conduction occurs (jumping
impulses).
Seventh, after the electrical impulses reach the end of the axon, they travel to the axon
terminal/nerve terminal where neurotransmitters are released at the synaptic cleft (the
space between the axon terminal/nerve terminal and the dendrites of another nerve
cell). This is where the synapse occurs. A synapse is the transfer of information from one
neuron to another. When the signals are transferred from first to the second neuron, the
neurotransmitters bind to receptor molecules. There is a specific receptor for each type
of neurotransmitter; this refers to the “lock and key” model. Neurotransmitters are
stored in the vesicles at the axon terminal/nerve terminal waiting to be released.
Diagrams: 13-15
See the guided practice answer key for labeled diagrams.