An Introduction to

Brain and Behavior

CHAPTER 4
Recap: Part 1 - Cell anatomy and physiology

 Neurons: basic structure FLOW OF

 Neurons: three major types INFORMATION
SENSORY NEURONS
 Glial cells: five major types INPUT (AFFERENT)
INPUT
 Internal cell structure
 Protein synthesis
INTERNEURONS
 Protein packaging and shipment INTEGRATION
ASSOCIATION

OUTPUT
MOTOR NEURONS
OUTPUT (EFFERENT)
Part 2 – Cell anatomy and physiology

 Intermezzo: Electricity

 Resting potential
 Graded potential
 Action potential

Chapter 4
Electricity

Greek: electron (ηλεκτρον) = amber (fossilized tree resin)

 If you rub amber with wool: electrical charge (static)

Electricity is a natural phenomenon

 Some fish are capable of generating electricity (e.g. eels)
 Lightning (discharge of a potential difference in the atmosphere)
 Human nervous system uses electrical signals to communicate
Electrical charge

 Electricity is defined as the flow of electric charge.

 Charge is a property of matter (just like mass, volume, or density)
 Just as you can quantify how much mass something has, you can
measure how much charge it has.
 The key concept with charge is that it can come in two types:
positive (+) or negative (-).
Physical basis of electrical charge

 The world consists of matter

 Matter consists of molecules  water (H2O)
 Molecules consist of elements  hydrogen (H), oxygen (O)
 Atoms are the smallest particle of an element that has the properties of that element
 Atoms consist of:
Protons (+) and neutrons (0)  inside the center (nucleus) of the atom
Electrons (-) outside nucleus (orbit in electron shells)
 Ions are atoms that:
have a surplus of electrons (anions, negative ions e.g. Cl-)
or have a shortage of electrons (cations, positively charged ions e.g. Na+)
Electrical charge – potential difference (voltage)

Rubbing wool against amber causes negatively charged electrons

to “jump” from the wool to the amber (triboelectric effect)
 The amber gets a surplus of electrons (becomes negatively charged)
 The wool gets a shortage of electrons (becomes positively charged)

There is now a difference in charge between the wool and the amber
 This is called a potential difference or voltage
 Unit voltage: Volt
 Measuring voltage: Voltmeter

NB: it is a relative difference  2 connections needed to measure (e.g. 2 poles on a battery)

Magnitude of potential differences

Symbol Unit of measurement Decimal Examples

µV microvolt 0,000 001 V Radio and television receivers,

Electroencephalogram (EEG)
mV millivolt 0,001 V Audio and video signals, nervous activity

All kinds of devices in everyday life:

V volt 1V  Penlight battery: 1.5 V
 Car battery: 12 V
 Outlet: 120 or 230 V

kV kilovolt 1000 V Distribution of electricity, trains, trolleys

MV megavolt 1 000 000 V Power lines, lightning

NB: voltage range of neurons = 0-200 mV

Current
Current = an electrical charge that moves  Unit of measurement = Ampère (A)
Connecting two objects (or two poles within the same object) with different electrical charges:
 charge moves from an area with a high concentration of electrons to a low
concentration of electrons  electrons flow from – to + = electron current (e.g. from
amber - to wool +)

Alternating current (AC)  home appliances with motors (e.g. vacuum cleaner)
 In AC, the direction of current changes frequently (Socket: 50/60 Hz)
 Advantage: more efficient transport and easier to change voltage (using transformers)
 Disadvantage: human body is more sensitive to AC

Direct current (DC)  nervous system, batteries,

 In DC, the positive and negative terminals are always positive and negative.
Effects of current on the human body

Values for AC (multiply by ~4 for DC)

Current strength Effect

0.5 – 5 mA Unharmful, gives a light tingling sensation (electric flyswatter)
5 – 20 mA Muscle cramps in arm and hands. Impossible to let go over 20 mA
20 – 40 mA Breathing is obstructed; nerve centers can be paralyzed
40 – 200 mA Heart stops working; blood circulation halts
200 – 1000 mA Burns in tissue, muscles and nerves
> 1000 mA Poisoning of kidneys
Current strength also depends on resistance  Current = Voltage / Resistance (Ohm’s law: V = I*R; I = V/R)
Legally: AC voltage max. 50 V, R ~ 5000 Ω → I ~ 10 mA
Measuring electricity in the nervous system

 Equipment: potential differences (voltage)  voltmeter

electrical current  ampere meter
 Always 2 connections (poles)!
 For instance: inside versus outside of a cell (over the cell membrane)

Why squid?  large axons  easy test subject

Electrical stimulation

Besides measuring voltage and current, one can also administer it

Oscilloscope
 Measures voltage as a function of time

NB: p 110 figure A

current is measured in mA not mV!
Voltage and current in the human body

In the nervous system, the current is not provided by a flow of negative electrons,

but by a flow of (mostly positive) ions  ions flow from + to – = ion current

Na+ (sodium ion)

K+ (potassium ion)
Cl- (chloride ion)
Ca2+ (calcium ion)

NB: ions do not carry the same kind of electrical current that powers your phone
Ions  max ~90 m/s (324 km/h) Electrons  270.000 km/s (90% speed of light)
~3 million times slower
How ion movement produces electrical charges

 Diffusion
 Concentration gradient
 Voltage gradient
Diffusion

Water = H2O  hydrogen H+ (positive) + hydroxide OH- (negative)

Salt = Na+ Cl- (sodium chloride)

Diffusion (passive process)

 Na+ binds with negative poles (O)

 Cl- binds with positive poles (H)

Concentration gradient & Voltage gradient

Equilibrium  concentration gradient Equilibrium  concentration gradient = voltage gradient

Result  difference in charge Left side = positively charged
across membrane Right side = negatively charged
Result  difference in charge across membrane
largest difference close to membrane
Resting potential

Difference in charge between intracellular and extracellular side

~ –70 mV = resting potential (potential energy)

Ions critical to resting potential:

Cations Na+ Sodium

K+ Potassium

Anions Cl- Chloride

A- Large protein molecules

Intracellular more A- and K+

Extracellular more Cl- and Na+
NB: sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) most
‘actively’ involved in neural communication
 see action potential on slide 21
Maintaining the resting potential

Channels allow K+ influx and efflux (passive transport) to balance intracellular A -

Gates prevent influx of Na+
Na+/K+ pump pumps Na+ out of the cell and K+ into the cell (3:2) costs energy!
Stimulating a neuron – Graded potentials

Two options NB: both options induce graded potentials  small fluctuations across the cell
membrane that extinguish with distance and can be summed
Apply a negative charge (voltage) Apply positive charge (voltage)
 hyperpolarization  K+ efflux or Cl- influx  depolarization  Na+ influx
 potential difference increases from  potential difference decreases from
–70 mV to –73 mV –70 mV to –65 mV
The action potential

 A brief (1 ms) and large all-or-nothing potential that reverses the membranes polarity
 Arises when the potential difference over the membrane exceeds a certain level:
 firing threshold (– 50 mV)
 Action potentials do not extinguish with distance and cannot be summed like gradual potentials
 a neuron needs to wait (=refractory period) until the action potential is over before it can
generate another action potential (max. frequency ~200 Hz, sometimes ~1000 Hz)
 The action potential
At resting state, voltage sensitive Na+ gates are closed (-70 mV), when the firing threshold of -50 mV is reached:
1. Voltage sensitive Na+ briefly open  Na+ influx: difference becomes positive (+30 mV)  depolarization
2. Voltage sensitive K+ gates open  K+ efflux: difference increases to resting potential (-70 mV)  repolarization
3. K+ gates still open  difference increases beyond resting potential (-73 mV)  hyperpolarization
4. K+ gates close: difference decreases to (-70 mV)  resting potential

Absolutely refractory period: depolarization + repolarization

 It is absolutely impossible for the cell to fire

Relatively refractory period: hyperpolarization

 The cell may fire, but it is more difficult
transmembrane
charge: -70
-50 mV
+30
-73 mV

video (3 minutes)
The nerve impulse

How does the action potential propagate along the axon? Two ways:
Continuous conduction
 potential difference in one place activates nearby gates: domino effect
video (1 minute)

Saltatory conduction
Axons are often wrapped in myelin = isolating layer
(Schwann cells or oligodendroglia, see also Chapter 3)
 There are small ‘gaps’ in this isolation  nodes of Ranvier
 The action potential can ‘jump’ from node to node
video (3 minutes)

NB: Saltatory conduction is faster and costs less energy than normal propagation
Multiple Sclerosis: degradation of the myelin sheath in the CNS (oligodendroglia degeneration)
How do neurons communicate?

Neurons communicate through synapses (next lecture, Chapter 5)

Cell A = presynaptic
Cell A
Cell B = postsynaptic
Cell B
An action potential generated by presyaptic Cell A
may cause graded potentials at postsynaptic cell B

Excitation of Cell B (= turn on)

 excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP)
may depolarize cell B (bring it closer to firing threshold)

Inhibition of cell B (= turn off)

 inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP)
may hyperpolarize cell B (bring it further away from firing threshold)
Graded potentials: EPSPs & IPSPs

Temporal summation
graded potentials that
occur in quick
succession are added
Graded potentials: EPSPs & IPSPs

Spatial summation
graded potentials that
occur close in space
are added
Summation

The net effect of all EPSP’s and IPSP’s determines

whether a cell fires

Graded potentials
NB: If the potential difference at the initial segment gated channels
on the axon hillock becomes smaller than the on dendrites and cell body
-50 mV threshold, an action potential is propagated
along the axon  the cell ‘fires’

summary video (10 minutes)

Action potential
voltage-sensitive channels
on axon hillock and axon
NB: in some neurons also on dendrites
 back propagation
Nerve impulses and behavior

Sensory neuron Motor neuron

Next week – neurotransmitters, drugs and hormones

Week Lecture Chapter Topic

1 1 Ch1, Ch2 Introduction, Brain anatomy and physiology
2 Ch2 Brain anatomy and physiology
2 3 Ch3 Cell anatomy and physiology
4 Ch4 Cell anatomy and physiology
3 5 Ch5 Neurotransmitters
6 Ch6 Drugs and hormones
4 7 Ch7 Measuring and manipulating brain and behavior
8 Ch8 Brain development
5 9 Ch9 Perception
10 Ch10 Perception
6 11 Ch11 Motor functioning
12 Ch12 Emotional and Motivated behavior
7 13 Ch13 Sleep and dreams
14 Ch14 Learning and memory