Title: Synaptic Integration
Author: Sarah J Etherington, Susan E Atkinson, Greg J Stuart, Stephen R Williams
Date: May 2010
Link:http://www.els.net/WileyCDA/ElsArticle/refId-a0000208.html
Summary:
Synaptic transmission involves the sending of impulse. First, when action potential reaches the axon terminal, it depolarizes the membrane and opens voltage-gated sodium ion channels. This opens the channels for calcium ion to sense the protein and interacts with SNARE proteins which mediate vesicle fusion. Neurotransmitters are released into synaptic cleft during this fusion and diffuse to bind with receptor proteins on the postsynaptic membrane. This process opens ion channels, and the binding of the neurotransmitters is reversed. The Synaptic integration is the computational process by which an individual neuron processes its synaptic inputs and converts them into an output signal. Synaptic integrity, often caused by neural degeneration, is the completeness of the synaptic integration. The size, shape, location of synaptic inputs, and expression of voltage-gated channels can affect the synaptic intergration.
Supplemental material:
https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/the-nervous-system-35/how-neurons-communicate-200/synaptic-transmission-763-11996/images/fig-ch35_02_07/
In your slides presentation, be sure to use your diagram. Maybe include a step by step description of what happens, but just talking points - so the main idea is easy to follow.
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: Be able to explain these ion channels - how/why they work. Can you find out which part of your diagram is affected when fatty acids are absent? What function does DHA/EPA have in the synaptic transmission?