this is a neuron which has four main

parts the dendrites receive information

the cell body processes and integrates

that information the axon carries the

information along long distances from

one part of the neuron to another and

the axon terminal transmits the

information to the next cell in the

chain a bundle of axons traveling

together is called a nerve nerves can be

very long as they often need to transmit

information over long distances as we

just saw the dendrites are the part of

the neuron that receives incoming

signals based on the strength of this

incoming stimulation the neuron must

decide whether to pass that signal along

or not if the stimulation is strong

enough the signal is transmitted along

the entire length of the axon in a

phenomenon called an action potential

when this happens we say the neuron

fires

transmission of a neuronal signal is

entirely dependent on the movement of

ions or charged particles various ions

including sodium potassium and chloride

are unequally distributed between the

inside and the outside of the cell the

presence and movement of these ions is

not only important when a neuron fires

but also at rest to start let's think

about the positively charged sodium and

potassium ions

when a neuron is not sending a signal it

is considered to be at rest in a typical

neuron in its resting state the

concentration of sodium ions is higher

outside the cell than inside the

relative concentration of potassium ions

is the opposite with more ions inside

the cell than outside this ionic

separation occurs right at the cell

membrane and creates a chemical gradient

across the membrane

because ions are charged particles we

also need to consider their charge when

thinking about their distribution across

the memory at rest there are more

positively charged ions outside the cell

relative to the inside this creates a

difference in charge across the membrane

which is called an electrical gradient

together with the chemical gradient we

already mentioned we refer to this ionic

imbalance as the electro chemical

gradient the difference in total charge

inside and outside of the cell is called

the membrane potential at rest when no

signals are being transmitted a neuronal

membrane has a resting potential of

approximately minus 70 millivolts this

means that the inside of the cell is

approximately 70 millivolts less

positive than the outside

both the chemical and electrical

gradients we just discussed contribute

to establishing this potential while the

inside of the cell has a net negative

charge and the outside of the cell has a

net positive charge the charges line up

at the membrane and the bulk solution on

either side is actually electrically

neutral the resting membrane potential

is the point where the cell has achieved

electrochemical equilibrium this means

that the concentration gradient and the

electro gradient for each ion is equal

and opposite I on scan OTT simply move

across the membrane at will instead they

need a protein embedded in the membrane

to facilitate their movement most ions

across the membrane through a structure

called an ion channel ions move through

channels by passive diffusion along

their concentration gradient some ion

channels are always open but many

require signal to tell them to open or

close
for example voltage-gated channels only

open when the membrane potential reaches

a certain value on the other

ligand-gated ion channels are triggered

to open when they are bound by a

specific molecule mechanically gated ion

channels open in response to physical

forces such as changes in length or

changes in pressure most ion channels

are selectively permeable meaning that

they only allow one or a small subset of

ions to pass through voltage-gated ion

channels for example typically only

allow a single ion to cross the membrane

when they open this means that we need

separate channels for each ion ie

voltage-gated sodium channels as well as

voltage-gated potassium channels

as ions move through a channel and cross

from one side of the cell membrane to

the other they caused the membrane

potential of the cell to move away from

its resting potential if the resulting

change in membrane potential is small we

call this a graded potential graded

potentials can vary in size can be

either positive or negative are

transient and typically do not result

from the opening of voltage-gated ion

channels when ion channels open and a

graded potential occurs the neuron moves

quickly to reset its memory and

potential to resting values this is

accomplished primarily by the use of the

sodium potassium pump which uses the

energy generated by ATP hydrolysis to

actively transport ions across the

membrane against their concentration

gradient in other words sodium is

transported to the outside of the cell

where its concentration is higher and

potassium is transported back into the

cell where its concentration is higher

one cycle of this pump transports three

sodium ions outside the cell and brings

two potassium ions inside the cell this

unbalanced charge transfer contributes

to the separation of charge across the

membrane and also to the ionic

concentrations we see at rest thus

restoring the chemical and electrical

gradients to their resting levels

maintaining these ionic balance in

neurons is so important that this

process can account for twenty to forty

percent of the brain's total energy use

only when the resting membrane potential

and ion distributions are maintained at

precise levels will the neuron be poised

and ready to fire an action potential

when the outside stimulation is large

enough to bring the membrane potential

in the neuron body up from minus 70

millivolts to the threshold voltage of

minus 55 millivolts are higher this

triggers an action potential at the axon

hillock which then travels down the axon

voltage-gated sodium channels have three

states open closed and inactivated at

rest the sodium channel is closed once

the cell membrane reaches the threshold

voltage the channel changes to an open

position and sodium rushes into the cell

because of the electrochemical gradient

has positive sodium ions enter the cell

the membrane potential becomes less

negative and more positive as it

approaches zero millivolts this is

called depolarization eventually the

voltage gradient goes to zero and Beyond

zero up to a positive 30 millivolts this

is called an overshoot as the membrane

potential becomes positive the sodium

channel inactivation gate shuts making

the channel inactivated this stops the

flow of sodium ions into the cell

the change in membrane potential also

opens the voltage-gated potassium

channels though they open and close more

slowly because of the potassium

electrochemical gradient potassium ions

flow out of the cell making it less

positive and eventually negative this

process is called repolarization because

the potassium channels are a little slow

to close for a brief period the membrane

potential is hyperpolarized it's more

negative than the resting potential

during hyperpolarization the potassium

channels close throughout all this the

sodium potassium pump is still working

the pump restores the chemical gradients

by putting the sodium and potassium back

in place and the pump reestablishes the

potential gradient by moving more sodium

ions out than potassium ions in this

returns the membrane potential back to

its resting potential during

repolarization the inactivated sodium

channels won't respond to any stimulus

at all during this time the neuron is in

its absolute refractory period the

period of time when a nerve cannot fire

another action potential no matter how

strongly it stimulated the absolute

refractory period prevents action

potentials from happening again

too quickly and prevents the action

potential from traveling backwards along

the axon during hyperpolarization the

sodium channels are closed and the

inactivation gate opens there is no

change in sodium flow but now they could

be opened again this is called the

relative refractory period because while

the sodium channels could open he would

take a larger than usual stimulus to

reach threshold because the cell is

hyperpolarized due to the potassium

still leaving this

the amplitude of the action potential

for a particular neuron that is the

maximum voltage in one neuron during an

action potential never changes an action

potential doesn't get bigger with a

bigger stimulus it's all-or-nothing

it either happens or it doesn't happen

what can change is the frequency of the

action potential a neuron might fire

many more times per second in response

to say an intense pain and less

frequently in response to a gentle

breeze

some axons transmit action potentials

faster than others

one variable that increases conduction

velocity is the presence of myelin

sheaths around axons mile and speeds up

transmission through a process called

saltatory conduction in which the action

potential signal appears to jump along

the part of the axon covered by the

sheath in the peripheral nervous system

the sheaths are formed from glial cells

known as Schwann cells there are small

gaps between Schwann cells called the

nodes of ranvier the action potential

appears to jump from node to node

speeding the transmission in the central

nervous system the sheaths are made by

cells known as oligodendrocytes to

review with no stimulus the membrane is

at its resting potential a small

stimulus causes a graded potential and a

stimulus above the threshold creates an

action potential and the neuron fires

you