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[6] [7] One function of the initial segment is to separate the main part of an axon from the rest of the neuron; another function is to help initiate action potentials. [8] Both of these functions support neuron cell polarity , in which dendrites (and, in some cases the soma ) of a neuron receive input signals at the basal region, and at the ...
At the axon hillock of a typical neuron, the resting potential is around –70 millivolts (mV) and the threshold potential is around –55 mV. Synaptic inputs to a neuron cause the membrane to depolarize or hyperpolarize; that is, they cause the membrane potential to rise or fall. Action potentials are triggered when enough depolarization ...
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 ...
The axon leaves the soma at a swelling called the axon hillock and travels for as far as 1 meter in humans or more in other species. It branches but usually maintains a constant diameter. At the farthest tip of the axon's branches are axon terminals, where the neuron can transmit a signal across the synapse to another cell. Neurons may lack ...
Axonal transport, also called axoplasmic transport or axoplasmic flow, is a cellular process responsible for movement of mitochondria, lipids, synaptic vesicles, proteins, and other organelles to and from a neuron's cell body, through the cytoplasm of its axon called the axoplasm. [1]
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 of a neuron (the presynaptic neuron), and bind to and react with the receptors on the dendrites of another neuron (the postsynaptic neuron) a ...
The process of target selection has multiple steps that include axon pathfinding when neurons extend processes to specific regions, cellular target selection when neurons choose appropriate partners in a target region from a multitude of potential partners, and subcellular target selection where axons often target particular regions of a ...
Established collateral branches, like the main axon, exhibit a growth cone and develop independently of the main axon tip. Overall, axon elongation is the product of a process known as tip growth. In this process, new material is added at the growth cone while the remainder of the axonal cytoskeleton remains stationary.