Neurotransmission and the Nervous System

INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Look at the diagram (with the green background) at the top of the page and
read the description of neurotransmission to the right of it. Describe how the
following terms are applied to the neurotransmission process:

a. Neurotransmitters

b. Synapse

c. depolarization

2) Check out the “Gallery of Neurons” . Note the various microscopic images of
these pictures which show what neurons look like under a microscope.

3) Click “Lights, Camera, Action Potential” to answer the following questions:

a. What is the term that is

mentioned that describes an
electrically charged chemical?

b. Is the electrical current

polarized or depolarized during
the action potential?

4) Click “Chocolate and the Nervous System.” Answer the following questions
from the University of Michigan study:
a. Why does consuming
chocolate create a sense of
well-being?

b. What neurotransmitter is
produced in the brain when
chocolate is consumed?

c. How is the sense of well-

being that is created by
consuming chocolate
different from that created
by marijuana use? (Have a
clinical explanation for this
response.)
5) Click “Smart Drugs.” Read through this page that includes information about
the possibility that drugs may someday be used to help with memory and
thinking processes and then answer the following:
a. What is your opinion about the
possibility that chemicals could
actually change our thinking and
learning capabilities? (Be sure to
read the research on this one!)

b. What two drugs have been

approved to treat Alzheimer’s
disease?

c. What is the chemical explanation

for how these drugs work?

6) On this same page, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and give a brief,
but detailed opinion to the following ethical questions:
a. Question 3

b. Question 5

c. Questions 7

d. Question 10

7) Check out the Caffeine information and answer the following questions:
a. How much coffee consumption is a
fatal dose?

b. How does the caffeine content of a

five ounce cup of decaffeinated
coffee compare with a box of
Raisinets?

c. Excedrin with twelve-ounce Mountain

Dew?

d. Eight Ounce Cherry Coca-Cola with (40-60) + 23

Starbucks Coffee Ice Cream?