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Neurons communicate with other cells via synapses, which are specialized connections that commonly use minute amounts of chemical neurotransmitters to pass the electric signal from the presynaptic neuron to the target cell through the synaptic gap. Neurons are the main components of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoans.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal proposed that neurons are not continuous throughout the body, yet still communicate with each other, an idea known as the neuron doctrine. [13] The word "synapse" was introduced in 1897 by the English neurophysiologist Charles Sherrington in Michael Foster's Textbook of Physiology. [1]
Neurons communicate with each other through synapses, specialized contact points where neurotransmitters transmit signals. When an action potential reaches the presynaptic terminal , the action potential can trigger the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft.
Neurons form complex biological neural networks through which nerve impulses (action potentials) travel. Neurons do not touch each other (except in the case of an electrical synapse through a gap junction); instead, neurons interact at close contact points called synapses. A neuron transports its information by way of an action potential.
An electrical synapse is an electrically conductive link between two abutting neurons that is formed at a narrow gap between the pre- and postsynaptic cells, known as a gap junction. At gap junctions, cells approach within about 3.5 nm of each other, rather than the 20 to 40 nm distance that separates cells at chemical synapses.
Neurons are polarised cells that are specialised for the conduction of action potentials also called nerve impulses. [1] They can also synthesise membrane and protein. Neurons communicate with other neurons using neurotransmitters released from their synapses, and they may be inhibitory, excitatory or neuromodulatory. [5]
In the context of biology, a neural network is a population of biological neurons chemically connected to each other by synapses. A given neuron can be connected to hundreds of thousands of synapses. [1] Each neuron sends and receives electrochemical signals called action potentials to its connected neighbors.
In eukaryotes, many of the cells during early development communicate through direct contact. [5] Synaptic signaling, an integral part of nervous system activity, occurs between neurons and target cells. These target cells can also be neurons or other cell types (i.e. muscle or gland cells).