How would it be best described?
Is it like electricity or what are the medical names for this?
chemicals? hormones?
but is it comparable to electricity?
Thanks for your answers!
How would you argue or prove your answers?
Is the brain comparable to a muscle or not?
I know they say the heart is, but what about the brain?
are they both considered "organs"?
brain, chemicals, Electricity, Heart, hormones, medical names, organs, quot
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Fusion theme by digitalnature | powered by | Disclaimer | DMCA Notice | Terms Of Use | Anti Spam Policy | Affiliate Agreement | External Links Policy | Earnings Disclaimer | WordPress
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS) ^
#1 by Dub at August 25th, 2010
Action potentials (changes in the charge of the cell membrane) travels down a nerve (which is one cell) to the axon terminal. The action potential signals the release of neurotransmitter Acetcylcholine which binds receptors on muscle cells that carry out various reactions using Ca and ATP that cause the muscle to contract.
You can think of the action potential as electricity, because it is a change in charge of the membrane. (Muscle cells will contract if you shock them b/c the electricity causes an action potential in the nerve that connects to the muscles.) But that is how a nerve signals something from one end to the other. At the junction between the nerve and muscle, the nerve physically releases a chemical, Acetylcholine, which physically binds the muslce and causes contraction.
The heart is actually made of muscle tissue (called cardiac muscle) and contracts like muscle cells do. The brain is simply neurons (nerves) interconnected between one another. The grey matter is the cell bodies, and the white matter is the axons. So its not muscle tissue and doesn’t behave as such.
#2 by scottsdalehigh64 at August 25th, 2010
I think that you want to know how a nerve cell communicates with a muscle cell. The neuron attaches to a muscle cell at a neuro-muscular junction. It is the same as a synapse where a neuron attaches to another neuron. When the action potential comes down the axon of the neuron to the junction, a neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, is released. It diffuses across the junction to receptors on the surface of the muscle cell. The receptor then sets off a sequence of events that causes the contraction.
This is a highly simplified explanation.
#3 by malibucat1 at August 25th, 2010
First, understand the structure of a neuron, also known as a nerve-cell. The neuron is made up of an axon and dendrites. Dendrites receive neural signals from the axons other neurons, and transmit the signals to the cell body (soma). From there, the signal passes through the long axon.
The neural signal is transmitted down the neuron’s axon by an ACTION POTENTIAL. Basically what happens is, the axon has gates that allow sodium and potassium ions to enter and exit. As these ions enter and exit, the charge of the axon is changed, pushing the neural signal further down the axon. that’s how the signal goes down the axon.
At the end of the axon are sacs containing a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. The action potential causes acetylcholine to be released. As the acetylcholine is absorbed by the dendrite of the receiving neuron, and that neuron then gets the signal.
#4 by BioDoc at August 25th, 2010
The specific answer to your question is "neurotransmitters", which are small hormone or hormone-like compounds contained in small vesicles located near the nerve cell membrane in the vicinity of the synapse. When stimulated, by electrical current, other neurotransmitters, or certain hormones, nerve cells release these little vessicles by fusing them with the nerve cell membrane. The neurotransmitters are released into the synapse between nerve cells or between nerve cells and muscle cells. The neurotranmitters bind to receptors in the neighboring cell and cause an electrical current to flow down the cell. The electrical current is mediated by depolarization of the cell membrane down the axon. Many responders talked about the electrical current component, but its the neurotransmitters in the cells that generally start the signalling process.