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Axon terminals (also called terminal boutons, synaptic boutons, end-feet, or presynaptic terminals) are distal terminations of the branches of an axon. An axon, also called a nerve fiber, is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell that conducts electrical impulses called action potentials away from the neuron's cell body to transmit those ...
Diagram of a chemical synaptic connection. In the nervous system, a synapse [1] is a structure that allows a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or a target effector cell. Synapses can be classified as either chemical or electrical, depending on the mechanism of signal transmission between neurons.
The presynaptic axon terminal, or synaptic bouton, is a specialized area within the axon of the presynaptic cell that contains neurotransmitters enclosed in small membrane-bound spheres called synaptic vesicles (as well as a number of other supporting structures and organelles, such as mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum).
Later, synaptic vesicles could also be isolated from other tissues such as the superior cervical ganglion, [40] or the octopus brain. [41] The isolation of highly purified fractions of cholinergic synaptic vesicles from the ray Torpedo electric organ [42] [43] was an important step forward in the study of vesicle biochemistry and function.
Axon terminals contain synaptic vesicles that store the neurotransmitter for release at the synapse. This makes multiple synaptic connections with other neurons possible. Sometimes the axon of a neuron may synapse onto dendrites of the same neuron, when it is known as an autapse.
The synapse contains at least two clusters of synaptic vesicles, the readily releasable pool and the reserve pool. The readily releasable pool is located within the active zone and connected directly to the presynaptic membrane while the reserve pool is clustered by cytoskeletal and is not directly connected to the active zone.
Synaptic potential refers to the potential difference across the postsynaptic membrane that results from the action of neurotransmitters at a neuronal synapse. [1] In other words, it is the “incoming” signal that a neuron receives. There are two forms of synaptic potential: excitatory and inhibitory.
As described above, the synaptic vesicle will remain fused to the presynaptic membrane after its neurotransmitter contents have been released into the synapse. The repeated additions to the axon terminal membrane would eventually result in the uncontrolled growth of the axon terminal, which could lead to disastrous breakdown of the synaptic ...