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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 ...
The axon reflex was discovered by Kovalevskiy and Sokovnin, two Russian scientists in 1873. [5] They described the axon reflex as a new type of peripheral (or local) reflex where electrical signal starts in the middle of the axon and transmit immediately skipping both an integration center and a chemical synapse as typically observed in the spinal cord reflex.
An axon can divide into many branches called telodendria (Greek for 'end of tree'). At the end of each telodendron is an axon terminal (also called a terminal bouton or synaptic bouton, or end-foot). [20] Axon terminals contain synaptic vesicles that store the neurotransmitter for release at the synapse. This makes multiple synaptic connections ...
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 action potential is initiated at the initial segment of an axon, which contains a specialised complex of proteins. [127] When an action potential reaches the axon terminal it triggers the release of a neurotransmitter at a synapse that propagates a signal that acts on the target cell. [128]
Fig. 1. Neuron and myelinated axon, with signal flow from inputs at dendrites to outputs at axon terminals. The signal is a short electrical pulse called action potential or 'spike'. Fig 2. Time course of neuronal action potential ("spike"). Note that the amplitude and the exact shape of the action potential can vary according to the exact ...
Neuroscientists are often interested in knowing how fast the membrane potential, , of an axon changes in response to changes in the current injected into the axoplasm. The time constant, τ {\displaystyle \tau } , is an index that provides information about that value.
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 ...