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As an action potential (nerve impulse) travels down an axon there is a change in electric polarity across the membrane of the axon. In response to a signal from another neuron, sodium- (Na +) and potassium- (K +)–gated ion channels open and close as the membrane reaches its threshold potential.
An axon (from Greek ἄξων áxōn, axis) or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences) is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action potentials away from the nerve cell body. The function of the axon is to transmit information to different ...
The purpose of these studies is to determine whether nerve damage is present and how severe that damage may be. Nerve conduction studies are performed as follows: [8] Two electrodes are attached to the subject's skin over the nerve being tested. Electrical impulses are sent through one electrode to stimulate the nerve.
When myelin deteriorates, signal conduction along nerves can be significantly impaired or lost, and the nerve eventually withers. Demyelination may affect both central and peripheral nervous systems, contributing to various neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis , Guillain-Barré syndrome , and chronic inflammatory demyelinating ...
The membrane undulates in different sized waves according to the frequency of the sound. Hair cells are then able to convert this movement (mechanical energy) into electrical signals (graded receptor potentials) which travel along auditory nerves to hearing centres in the brain. [7]
Their primary function is mechanotransduction, or conversion between mechanical and neural signals. The relatively small number of the auditory hair cells is surprising when compared to other sensory cells such as the rods and cones of the visual system. Thus the loss of a lower number (in the order of thousands) of auditory hair cells can be ...
In many [specify] animals, electrical synapse-based systems co-exist with chemical synapses. Compared to chemical synapses, electrical synapses conduct nerve impulses faster and provide continuous-time bidirectional coupling via linked cytoplasm. [1] [3] [4] [5] As such, the notion of signal directionality across these synapses is not always ...
Passive cable theory describes how voltage changes at a particular location on a dendrite transmit this electrical signal through a system of converging dendrite segments of different diameters, lengths, and electrical properties. Based on passive cable theory one can track how changes in a neuron's dendritic morphology impact the membrane ...