Wednesday, 26 April 2017

A Level Biology

TRANSMISSION OF ACTION POTENTIALS BETWEEN NERVE CELLS
How action potentials are transmitted:
o Action potential arrives at presynaptic knob, causing Ca2+ voltage gated channels to open
o Ca2+ ions cause exocytosis of Acetylcholine (ACh) vesicles (synapses that have acetylcholine are called cholinergic synapses)
o ACh moves to presynaptic knob temporarily binding to the receptor proteins that have complimentary shape
o This causes Na+ (chemical) channels in post synoptic knob to open, Na+ enter and cause depolarisation
o Ach is then recycled by enzyme acetylcholinesterase which breaks the it into acetate and choline which then recombined in the presynaptic knob
Note: If ACh is not broken down the Na+ channels will remain open so neurone will be permanently depolarised

 PLEASE COMMENT, SHARE AND LIKE, THANKS :)

No comments:

Post a Comment