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Synapse. Diagram of a chemical synaptic connection. In the nervous system, a synapse[1] is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. Synapses are essential to the transmission of nervous impulses from one neuron to another, [2] playing a key role ...
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 ...
Chemical synapses pass information directionally from a presynaptic cell to a postsynaptic cell and are therefore asymmetric in structure and function. 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 ...
Within these terminals, alpha-synuclein interacts with phospholipids [8] and proteins. [5] [9] [10] Presynaptic terminals release chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, from compartments known as synaptic vesicles. The release of neurotransmitters relays signals between neurons and is critical for normal brain function. [5]
The area in the axon that holds groups of vesicles is an axon terminal or "terminal bouton". Up to 130 vesicles can be released per bouton over a ten-minute period of stimulation at 0.2 Hz. [1] In the visual cortex of the human brain, synaptic vesicles have an average diameter of 39.5 nanometers (nm) with a standard deviation of 5.1 nm. [2]
The presynaptic axons terminate in bulges called terminal boutons (or presynaptic terminals) that project toward the postjunctional folds of the sarcolemma. In the frog each motor nerve terminal contains about 300,000 vesicles, with an average diameter of 0.05 micrometers. The vesicles contain acetylcholine.
Neurotransmission. The presynaptic neuron (top) releases a neurotransmitter, which activates receptors on the nearby postsynaptic cell (bottom). Neurotransmission (Latin: transmissio "passage, crossing" from transmittere "send, let through") is the process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal ...
Presynaptic inhibition is a phenomenon in which an inhibitory neuron provides synaptic input to the axon of another neuron (axo-axonal synapse) to make it less likely to fire an action potential. Presynaptic inhibition occurs when an inhibitory neurotransmitter, like GABA, acts on GABA receptors on the axon terminal.