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Neurons and Nerotransmitters
Neurons and Neurotransmitters
21
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
02/01/2013

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Term
Dompamine or DA
Definition

 

  • Needed to make you fell happy, experience pleasure and pain, and have smooth movements
  • Produced in substantia nigra and distributed throughout the brain
  • One of the causes of Parkinson's disease is a lack of DA production.
  • Too much DA in your system is a theoretical cause of Schizophrenia.
Term
Acetylcholine or ACh
Definition
  • Aids in movement, attention, arousal, and overall memory function
Term
Endorphins and Opiates
Definition
  • Main job to remove pain.
  • Released after exercise, sex, or eating chocolate.
Term
Serotonin or 5Ht
Definition
  • Regulates most of our daily pattens like sleeping, waking up, and sleeping again.
  • Too much 5Ht can cause OCD and too little can contribute to depression.
  • Our best defense against clinical depression at this time are SSRI–selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
 
Term
The Somatic System
Definition
  • The somatic system controls our voluntary movement and connects our CNS (brain/spinal cord) to skeletal muscles. 
Term
The Autonomic System
Definition
  • The autonomic system regulates involuntary movement – including glands and organs.
  • The ANS is in charge of all things automatic – heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing, etc. 
Term
Hormones
Definition
  • Whereas transmitters work quickly and effectively with short effects, hormones work slower and over a longer period of time.
  • Glands communicate via hormones.
  • Hormones are chemically identical to neurotransmitters.
  • Hormones are slower and longer lasting.
Term
Pituitary Gland
Definition
  • The pituitary gland regulates much of the system including growth hormones.
Term
Phrenology
Definition
  • Phrenology is the study of the shape of skulls and how those shapes relate to personality.
Term
Neurons
Definition
  • Your brain is made up of over a hundred billion neurons of various shapes, sizes and functions.
  • Neurons have six basic parts: the soma, axon, nodes, dendrites,  dendrites, myelin,  myelin, and  and bouton bouton/synapse.
Term
Glial Cells
Definition
  • There are many more glial cells than neurons.
  • They serve as the glue to hold other neurons as well as form the myelin sheath around long neurons that need ‘insulation’. 
Term
Soma
Definition
  • The soma is the body of the neuron.
Term
Axon
Definition
  • The axon is the tail of the neuron.
  • Once the soma has decided that it has reached threshold and should fire, the signal travels down the axon to the boutons.
  • The axon is wrapped intermittently in a myelin sheath (which is made of smaller neurons [glial cells] wrapped around the axon) which aids in the conduction of the signal down long axons. 
Term
Nodes of Raniver
Definition
  • The areas where the sheath is not located are call the Nodes of Ranvier.
  • These empty spaces/nodes allow sodium and potassium to pass through the axon and speed up the saltatory conduction that is progressing down the axon.  
Term
Bouton
Definition
  • Eventually the signal reaches the bouton which houses the vesicles.
  • In these vesicles (think of them as packages) are neurotransmitters of various types (dopamine, serotonin, etc).
  • These transmitters are dumped into the synapse after the signal reaches the bouton and says to do so.  
Term
Synapse
Definition
  • The ‘synapse’ is composed of the bouton from the sending neuron (called the pre-synaptic neuron), empty space between the neurons and the receiving neuron’s (called the postsynaptic neuron) dendritic spines.
  • This space is TINY between the two 
  • The closer the two neurons, the quicker and more efficient the communication between them.
  • The transmitter is dumped by the pre-synaptic neuron and crosses the space toward the post-synaptic neuron.
Term
Dendrites
Definition
  • Located on the post-synaptic neuron are dendrites.
  • Dendrites receive signals (i.e. transmitters/hormones) and are typically located just above or connected to the soma.
Term
Transmitters
Definition
  • Neuons communicate with each other via chemicals (transmitters) once inside the body. 
  • The first trigger must come from somewhere outside the body (typically) and the possibilities stem from our senses: light (vision), touch, pressure (hearing) and chemical (taste and smell). 
Term
Action Potential
Definition
  • The action potential is what allows a signal to cascade down the axon.
  • It changes the chemical neurotransmitter that enters the dendrite and is calculated in the soma to an electrical signal that can travel the axon.
  • The signal then becomes chemical again when it dumps the transmitters.  Transmitters are the chemical signal, ions are the electrical signal. 
Term
Axon Hillock
Definition
  • Right below the soma is the axon hillock, it’s the most sensitive part of the axon and is filled with ion channels that regulate the potential of the neuron.
Term
Blood Brain Barrier
Definition
  • Inside the brain is the blood brain barrier.  Its job is to keep the blood in and all the bad out – pathogens, carcinogens, etc. 
  • In the brain’s blood vessel system and is semi permeable and only allows certain items to flow through – items that are lipid (fat) soluble and very small. 
  • These restrictions keep out most of the bad things that would harm your brain such as toxins, pathogens, viruses, etc.
  • It is not perfect as evidenced by brain disease and tumors.
  • The blood brain barrier is composed of tightly packed endothelial cells (a type of neuron) along  along with a layer of  with a layer of astrocytes astrocytes (another type of neuron) (another type of neuron) and  and microglia  microglia (more neurons!) (more neurons!) on  on the brain-side (shown in purple in this diagram) of the vessel.
  • The barrier is sort of like an immune system for the brain.
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