Chapter 12

Nervous Tissue

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY

The Unity of Form and Function
TENTH EDITION
KENNETH S. SALADIN

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 Introduction
• Nervous system is the foundation of our conscious
experience, personality, and behavior
• Neurobiology combines the behavioral and life
sciences

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 12.1 Overview of the Nervous System
• Expected Learning Outcomes
– Describe the major functions of the nervous system.
– Describe the nervous system as a control system.
– List the parts of the nervous system that constitute
the central nervous system (CNS) and those that
constitute the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
– Differentiate between the somatic and autonomic
divisions of the nervous system.

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 Overview of the Nervous System 1
• Endocrine and nervous systems both maintain internal
coordination
– Endocrine system: communicates by means of chemical
messengers (________________________) secreted into
to the blood
– Nervous system: employs electrical and chemical means
to send messages from cell to cell

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 Overview of the Nervous System 2
• Nervous system carries out tasks in three basic steps
– Sense organs receive information about changes in the
body and external environment and transmit to the
brain and spinal cord (CNS: Central Nervous System)
– CNS processes this information, relates it to past
experiences, and determines appropriate response
– CNS issues commands to muscles and glands cells to
carry out such a response

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 Basic Pathway
• Sensory ________________ – detects a stimulus

• Sensory (afferent) neuron

• Integrating center – Central Nervous System

• Motor (efferent) neuron

• ______________ – responds (a muscle or a gland)

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Two major subdivisions of the Nervous System 3
• Central nervous system (CNS)
– Brain and spinal cord enclosed by?

• Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

– Rest of nervous system except the brain and spinal cord;
composed of nerves & ganglia
– Nerve—bundle of nerve fibers (axons) wrapped in
fibrous connective tissue; spinal versus cranial nerves
– Ganglion—a knot-like swelling in a nerve where neuron
cell bodies are concentrated

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 Peripheral Nervous System
• Sensory (afferent): To CNS
– Somatic sensory division: from skin, skeletal muscle &
joints
– Visceral sensory division: from viscera (heart, lungs,
stomach, and urinary bladder)
• Motor (efferent): From CNS
– Somatic fibers to skeletal muscles: Somatic motor
division
– Visceral fibers to smooth muscles, cardiac muscle or
glands: Visceral motor division (Autonomic nervous
system)

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 Motor divisions of the PNS
• Somatic (voluntary) nervous system
– Motor neurons to skeletal muscle tissue
– Only 1 motor neuron is used
– Somatic reflexes – involuntary muscle contractions
• Autonomic (involuntary) nervous system
– Motor neurons to smooth & cardiac muscle, endocrine
glands, & __________________ glands
– ____ motor neurons used
– Autonomic/visceral reflexes – involuntary responses

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 Overview of the Nervous System 6
• Visceral Motor Division (Autonomic Nervous System)
– Sympathetic division: Tends to arouse body for action
• Motor neurons originate from thoracolumbar region
• “Fight or flight” responses; “E” responses
– Parasympathetic division: Tends to have calming effect
• Motor neurons originate from craniosacral region
• “Resting and digesting” responses; SLUDD

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 Subdivisions of the Nervous System 2

Figure 12.1

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 Subdivisions of the Nervous system

Figure 12.2
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 12.2 Properties of Neurons 1
• Expected Learning Outcomes continued
– Describe three functional properties found in all neurons.
– Define the three most basic functional categories of neurons
identifying nervous system elements that are sensory
receptors, the afferent pathway, control centers, the efferent
pathway, and effector organs.
– Identify the parts of a neuron including soma (cell body),
axon, and dendrites.
– State which parts of each type of neuron receive
information, which parts integrate information, and which
parts conduct the output signal of the neuron.

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 12.2 Properties of Neurons 2
• Expected Learning Outcomes (continued)
– Identify each type of neuron and state their
locations in the body
– Explain how neurons transport materials between
the cell body and tips of the axon.

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 Histology of Nerve Tissue
• The two principal cell types of the nervous system are:
– ___________________________
• Excitable cells that transmit electrical signals
• Functional units of the nervous system
– ___________________________ – supporting cells

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 Universal Properties of Neurons
• _________________________ (irritability)
– Respond to environmental changes called stimuli
– Produce an electrical signal
• _________________________
– Conduct the electrical signal to other cells
• Secretion
– When an electrical signal reaches the end of nerve
fiber, the cell secretes a chemical neurotransmitter that
influences the next cell

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 Functional Classes of Neurons
• Sensory (afferent) neurons
– Detect stimuli & transmit information toward CNS
• Interneurons (association neurons)
– Lie entirely within CNS
– Connects motor and sensory pathways
– Makes decisions (integrating center)
– About ____% of all neurons)
• Motor (efferent) neuron
– Send signals out to muscles and gland cells (the
effectors)

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 Three Functional Classes of Neurons
Peripheral nervous system Central nervous system
1) Sensory (afferent)
neurons conduct
signals from receptors
to the CNS.

3) Motor (efferent) 2) Interneurons

neurons conduct are confined to
signals from the CNS the CNS.
to effectors such as
muscles and glands.

Figure 12.3

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 Structure of a Neuron 1
• Soma—control center of neuron
– Also called neurosoma or cell
body
– Nucleus with one nucleolus
– Cytoplasm contains?
– What is not present?
– Extreme longevity

Figure 12.4a
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 Structure of a Neuron 2
• Dendrites—branches that
come off the soma
– ________________ signals
from other neurons
– The more dendrites the neuron
has, the more information it
can receive

Figure 12.4a
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 Structure of a Neuron 3
• Axon (nerve fiber)
• Originates from axon hillock
• Transmits signals away from soma
• Only one (or none)
• Mostly unbranched except for
axon collaterals
– Axolemma
– May be enclosed by myelin
sheath

Figure 12.4a
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 Structure of a Neuron 4
• Axon terminal (terminal button)
• Contains synaptic vesicles full of
__________________________

Figure 12.4a
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 Variation in Neuron Structure
• Multipolar neuron
– One axon and multiple dendrites
– Most common – most neurons in CNS
• Bipolar neuron
– One axon and one dendrite
• Unipolar neuron
– Single process leading away from soma
– Sensory cells from skin and organs to
spinal cord (somas in dorsal root
ganglia)
• Anaxonic neuron
– Many dendrites but no axon

Figure 12.5
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 Axonal Transport 1
• Proteins (examples?) made in soma transported to axon &
axon terminal to repair axolemma, to transport organelles
• Two-way passage:
– _____________________ transport: movement down the
axon away from soma
– _____________________ transport: movement up the axon
toward the soma
• Uses Microtubules (guide materials along axon) and motor
proteins that “crawl” along microtubules

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 12.3 Supportive Cells (Neuroglia)
• Expected Learning Outcomes
– Name the six types of cells that aid neurons, and state
their respective functions including which occur in the
CNS and which occur in the PNS.
– Describe the myelin sheath that is found around certain
nerve fibers, and explain its importance.
– Predict the types of problems that would occur in the
body if a disease prevented the nervous system from
maintaining homeostasis.
– Explain how damaged nerve fibers regenerate.

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 Supportive Cells (Neuroglia)
• About 1 trillion neurons in the nervous system
• Neuroglia outnumber neurons by at least 10 to 1
• Functions of Neuroglia (or glial cells)
– Protect neurons and help them function
– Bind neurons together and form framework for nervous
tissue
– If mature neuron is not in synaptic contact with another
neuron, it is covered by glial cells

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 4 Types of Neuroglia in CNS
• Oligodendrocytes
– Form ______________ sheaths in CNS that speed signal
conduction using arm-like processes
• Ependymal cells
– Line internal cavities of the brain; secrete and circulate
___________________________________(CSF)
• Microglia
– Macrophages (WBCs)
– Wander through CNS looking for debris and damage -
How do they get rid of the debris?

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 4 Types of Neuroglia in CNS 2
• Astrocytes
– Most abundant glial cell in CNS
– Covers brain surface and most nonsynaptic regions of
neurons in the gray matter (framework)
– Forms ___________________________ barrier using
perivascular feet
– Absorbs excess neurotransmitters and ions
– Astrocytosis or sclerosis—when neuron is damaged,
astrocytes form hardened scar tissue and fill in space

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 Neuroglial Cells of CNS

Figure 12.6

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 Two Types of Neuroglia in PNS
• Schwann cells
– Produce a __________________ sheath around axons
similar to the ones produced by oligodendrocytes in CNS
– Assist in regeneration of damaged fibers
• Satellite cells
– Surround the somas in ganglia of the PNS
– Provide electrical insulation around the soma
– Regulate the chemical environment of the neurons

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 Myelin Sheath 1
• Insulation around a nerve fiber (axon)
– Formed by oligodendrocytes in CNS and Schwann cells
in PNS
– Consists of the ________________________of glial cells
• 20% protein and 80% lipid
• Myelination—production of the myelin sheath
– Begins at week 14 of fetal development
– Proceeds rapidly during infancy
– Completed in late adolescence
– Dietary fat is important to CNS development

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 Myelin in PNS
• Entire Schwann cell spirals repeatedly around a single
nerve fiber
– As many as one hundred layers of membrane
– No cytoplasm between the membranes
– __________________: outermost coil of myelin sheath
• Contains nucleus and most of its cytoplasm
• External to neurilemma is basal lamina and a thin
layer of fibrous connective tissue—
_____________________________

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 Myelin Sheath in PNS

Figure 12.4c
Nodes of Ranvier and internodes
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 Myelination in PNS

Figure 12.8a

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 Unmyelinated Axons 2

• Figure 12.9

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 Myelin in CNS
• An oligodendrocyte myelinates several nerve fibers in
its immediate vicinity
– Cannot migrate around any one of them like Schwann
cells
– Must push newer layers of myelin under the older ones;
so myelination spirals inward toward nerve fiber
– N0 neurilemma or endoneurium

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 Myelination in CNS

Figure 12.8b
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 Myelin 4
• Many Schwann cells or oligodendrocytes are needed to
cover one nerve fiber
• Myelin sheath is segmented
– Nodes of _______________: gap between segments
(myelin sheath gap)
– Internodes: myelin-covered segments
– __________________ zone: the axon hillock & the initial
segment
• Play an important role in initiating a nerve signal

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 Glial Cells and Brain Tumors
• Tumors—masses of rapidly dividing cells from:
– Meninges (protective membranes of CNS)
– Metastasis from other tumors in other organs
– Glial cells (mitotically active throughout life)

• ________________ grow rapidly and are highly

malignant
– Blood–brain barrier decreases effectiveness of chemotherapy
– Treatment consists of radiation or surgery

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 Diseases of the Myelin Sheath 1
• Degenerative disorders of the myelin sheath
– Multiple sclerosis
• Oligodendrocytes and myelin sheaths in the CNS
deteriorate
• Myelin replaced by hardened scar tissue
• Nerve conduction disrupted (double vision, tremors,
numbness, speech defects)
• Onset between 20 and 40 years
• Cause may be autoimmune triggered by virus

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 Diseases of the Myelin Sheath 3
• Tay–Sachs disease: a hereditary disorder of infants of
Eastern European Jewish ancestry
– Abnormal accumulation of glycolipid called
(ganglioside) in the myelin sheath disrupts conduction
of nerve signals
• Blindness, loss of coordination, and dementia
• Fatal before age 4
• Which organelle is dysfunctional?

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 Conduction Speed of Nerve Fibers 1
• Speed at which a nerve signal travels along
surface of nerve fiber depends on two factors
– Diameter of fiber
• Larger fibers have more surface area and conduct signals
more rapidly
– Presence or absence of myelin
• Myelin further speeds signal conduction

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 Conduction Speed of Nerve Fibers 2
• Conduction speed
– Slow signals sent to the gastrointestinal tract where
speed is less of an issue
– Fast signals sent to ___________________ muscles
where speed improves balance and coordinated body
movement

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 Nerve Regeneration 1
• Only peripheral nerve fiber can and only if:
– _________________ is intact
– some neurilemma remains
• Steps of regeneration:
– Fiber distal to the injury degenerates
– Axon stump sprouts multiple growth processes
– Schwann cells, basal lamina and neurilemma form a
regeneration tube

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 Nerve Regeneration 2
• Once contact reestablished, atrophied muscle fibers
regrow
• Problems:
– Regeneration not fast, perfect, or always possible
– Slow regrowth means may take ______years
– Some nerve fibers connect with the wrong muscle
fibers; some die
– Regeneration of damaged nerve fibers in the
_________ usually does not occur

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 Regeneration of a Damaged Nerve Fiber

4)Early regeneration
1)Normal nerve fiber

2)Injured fiber 5)Late regeneration

6)Regenerated fiber
3)Degeneration of severed fiber

Figure 12.10

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 12.4 Electrophysiology of Neurons
• Expected Learning Outcomes
– Explain why a cell has an electrical charge
difference (voltage) across its membrane.
– Explain how ion channels affect neuron selective
permeability.
– Contrast the relative concentrations of sodium,
potassium and chloride ions inside & outside of a
cell.
– Explain how stimulation of a neuron causes a local
electrical response in its membrane.

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 12.4 Electrophysiology of Neurons 2
• Expected Learning Outcomes (continued)
– Explain the properties of local potentials and how
local responses generate a nerve signal.
– Discuss the sequence of events that must occur
for an action potential to be generated.
– Describe the role of the sodium-potassium
exchange pump in maintaining the resting
membrane potential and making continued action
potentials possible.
– Explain how the nerve signal is conducted down
an axon.
– Define threshold.

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 Electrical Potentials and Currents
• Electrical potential—a difference in concentration of
charged particles between one point and another
• Electrical current—a flow of charged particles from one
point to another
– In the body, currents are movements of ions, such as
or , through channels in the plasma membrane
– Gated channels are opened or closed by various stimuli
– Enables cell to turn electrical currents on and off

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 The Resting Membrane Potential 1
• Cell is positive outside the cell membrane and negative
inside
– potential energy difference at rest is -70 mV
– cell is “polarized”
• Resting potential exists because
– High concentration of _________________ outside and
high concentration of __________________ inside

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 The Resting Membrane Potential 2
• RMP results from the combined effect of three factors
– Ions diffuse down their concentration gradient through
the membrane
– Plasma membrane is selectively permeable and allows
some ions to pass easier than others
– Electrical attraction of cations and anions to each other

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 Ionic Basis of the Resting Membrane Potential

• Na+ concentrated outside of cell (ECF) Figure 12.12

• K+ concentrated inside cell (ICF)
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 The Resting Membrane Potential 6
• Potassium has greatest influence on RMP
– Plasma membrane is more permeable to than any
other ion
– Leaks out until electrical charge of cytoplasmic anions
attracts it back in and equilibrium is reached (no more
net movement of )
– is more concentrated in the ICF than in the ECF
• Cytoplasmic anions cannot escape

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 The Resting Membrane Potential 5
• Membrane is not very permeable to sodium but
RMP is slightly influenced by it
– is more concentrated in the ECF than in the ICF
– Some leaks into the cell, diffusing down its
concentration and electrical gradients
– This leakage makes RMP slightly less negative than
it would be if RMP were determined solely by

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 The Resting Membrane Potential 4

• / pump moves 3 out for every 2 it brings in

– Exchange of 3 positive charges for only 2 positive
charges contributes about −3 mV to the cell’s
resting membrane potential of −70 mV

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 Changes in Membrane Potentials
• Changes are caused by three events
– Depolarization – the inside of the membrane becomes
less negative. Will reverse polarity.
– Repolarization – the membrane returns to its resting
membrane potential
– Hyperpolarization – the inside of the membrane
becomes more negative than the resting potential
• Will this inhibit or lead to an electrical impulse?
• 2 types of signals: local (graded) potentials & action
potentials

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 Local (Graded) Potentials
• Changes in membrane potential of a neuron occurring
at & nearby the part of the cell that is stimulated
– Short distances; die out quickly
– On __________________ and cell bodies
– Sodium gates open in response to ________________,
light, heat or mechanical stimulation
– Size of signal depends on stimulus strength
• Membrane will either:
– depolarize: leads to an action potential or
– hyperpolarize: ______________ an action potential

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 Excitation of a Neuron by a Chemical Stimulus

Figure 12.13

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 Action Potentials 1
• Action potential—change in membrane polarity produced
by voltage-gated ion channels
• Long distances; does not decrease in strength
• On ___________ of nerve cells and in muscle cells
• Sodium gates open in response to _________________
stimulation (change in membrane potential) – called
voltage-gated
• All-or-nothing threshold – What does this mean?
Depolarize reverse polarization repolarize

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 Action Potentials 2
• Action potential is a rapid up-and-down shift in the
membrane voltage involving a sequence of steps:
– Arrival of current at axon hillock depolarizes
membrane
– Depolarization must reach threshold: critical voltage
(about -55 mV) required to open voltage-regulated
gates
– Voltage-gated channels open, enters and depolarizes
cell, which opens more channels resulting in a rapid
positive feedback cycle as voltage rises

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 Action Potentials 3
• (Steps in action potential shift in membrane voltage,
Continued)
– As membrane potential rises above 0 mV, channels are
inactivated and close; voltage peaks at about +35 mV
– Slow channels open and outflow of repolarizes the cell
– channels remain open for a time so that membrane is
briefly hyperpolarized (more negative than RMP)
– RMP is restored as leaks in and extracellular is removed
by astrocytes

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 Actions of the Sodium and Potassium Channels
During an Action Potential

Figure 12.15

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 An Action Potential

• Only a thin layer of the

cytoplasm next to the
cell membrane is
affected
– In reality, very few ions
are involved

• Action potential is often

called a spike, as it
happens so fast
Figure 12.14a
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 Action Potential in Real-time

Figure 12.14

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 Action Potentials 4
• Characteristics of action potential (unlike local potential)
– Follows an all-or-none law
• If threshold is reached, neuron fires at its maximum
voltage
• If threshold is not reached, it does not fire
– Does not get weaker with distance
– Irreversible: once started, goes to completion and cannot
be stopped

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 The Refractory Period
• During an action potential
and for a few milliseconds
after, it is difficult or
impossible to stimulate
that region of a neuron to
fire again
• Refractory Period – the
period of resistance to
stimulation

Figure 12.16

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 The Two Phases of the Refractory Period

• Absolute refractory period

– Can NOT produce
another AP
• Relative refractory period
– Can produce another
AP, but only with a
___________ stimulus

Figure 12.16

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 Intensity of Sensation
• All nerve action potentials are identical
• How do you get different intensities?
– ___________________ of stimulus
– ___________________ of neurons stimulated

• What if this was the motor division?

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 Action Potentials of Nerve versus Muscle
• Where?
– Nerve: occurs only on the _____________
– Muscle: entire sarcolemma (cell membrane)
• Resting membrane potential:
– Nerve: -70mV
– Muscle: skeletal and cardiac close to -90mV
– In which type of tissue is it easier to produce an
action potential?

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 Action Potentials of Nerve versus Muscle 2
• Duration
– Nerve impulse: ½ to 2 msec
– Skeletal muscle: 1-5 msec
– Cardiac and smooth muscle: 10-300 msec
– What does duration times tell you about how often
you can produce an impulse?
• Speed:
– Fastest nerve impulse is _______ times faster than a
muscle fiber

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 Continuous Conduction
• Unmyelinated fibers have voltage-gated channels
along their entire length
• Produce action potential the entire length of the
axon
• Chain reaction continues until the nerve signal
reaches the end of the axon

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 Continuous Conduction of a Nerve Signal
in an Unmyelinated Fiber

• Refractory
membrane ensures
that action potential
travels in one
direction
Figure 12.17

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 Saltatory Conduction in Nerve Fibers
• Myelinated fibers conduct signals with saltatory
conduction—signal seems to jump from node of
Ranvier to node of Ranvier
• Very fast

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 Saltatory Conduction of a Nerve Signal in a
Myelinated Fiber (a)

inflow at node generates Positive charge flows rapidly Depolarization of membrane at

action potential. along axon and depolarizes next node opens channels,
membrane; signal grows triggering new action potential.
weaker with distance.

Figure 12.18a
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 Saltatory Conduction of a Nerve Signal in a
Myelinated Fiber (b)

• Much faster than conduction in unmyelinated fibers

Figure 12.18b

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 12.5 Synapses
• Expected Learning Outcomes
– Identify the presynaptic and postsynaptic cells at a synapse.
– List the structures that comprise a chemical synapse.
– Compare and contrast chemical and electrical synapses
– Restate the steps that lead from the action potential arriving in
the synaptic terminal to the release of neurotransmitter from
synaptic vesicles.
– Give examples of neurotransmitters.
– Explain how messages are transmitted from one neuron to
another.

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 12.5 Synapses 2
• Expected Learning Outcomes continued
– Explain how stimulation of a postsynaptic cell is stopped.
– Discuss the relationship between a neurotransmitter and its
receptor.
– Explain how the receptors for neurotransmitters are related to
chemically-gated ion channels.
– Describe the events of cholinergic synaptic transmission in
proper chronological order.

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 Synapses 1
• A nerve signal can go no further when it reaches the
end of the axon
– Triggers the release of a neurotransmitter
– Stimulates a new wave of electrical activity in the next
cell across the synapse
• Synapse between two neurons
– First neuron in the signal path is the presynaptic neuron
• Releases neurotransmitter
– Second neuron is postsynaptic neuron
• Responds to neurotransmitter

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 Synapses 2
• A neuron can have an enormous number of synapses
– Spinal motor neuron covered by about 10,000 axon
terminals from other neurons
• 8,000 ending on its dendrites; 2,000 on its neurosoma
• In the cerebellum of brain, one neuron can have as many as
100,000 synapses

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 Types of Synapses
• Electrical
– Spreads through gap junctions
– Faster
– _________-way transmission
– Can’t make decisions
• Chemical
– __________-way transmission
• From a presynaptic neuron to a postsynaptic neuron
– Uses neurotransmitters

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 Chemical Synapses
• Nerve impulses reach the axonal terminal of
presynaptic neuron and open _________ channels
• Neurotransmitter is released into synaptic cleft via
__________________________.
• Neurotransmitter crosses synaptic cleft and binds to
receptors on postsynaptic neuron
• Postsynaptic membrane permeability changes,
causing an excitatory (EPSP) or inhibitory (IPSP)
effect
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 Structure of a Chemical Synapse 3
Figure 12.21

• Presynaptic neurons have synaptic vesicles with neurotransmitter

and postsynaptic have receptors and ligand-regulated ion channels
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 Postsynaptic Potentials 1

Figure 12.25
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 An Excitatory Cholinergic Synapse 2

Figure 12.23

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 Neurotransmitters
• More than 100 neurotransmitters
• Six chemical categories: acetylcholine, amino acids,
monoamines, purines, neuropeptides, and gases.

– Acetylcholine

– Monoamines
• Include the catecholamines:
– Epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine
• Also includes serotonin

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 Removal of Neurotransmitter
• Diffusion
– move down concentration gradient away from synapse

• Enzymatic degradation
– Ex: acetylcholinesterase and monoamine oxidase

• Uptake by neurons or glia cells

– neurotransmitter transporters

• What would a MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor)

do?

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 12.6 Neural Integration
• Expected Learning Outcomes
– Explain how a neuron “decides” whether or not to generate
action potentials.
– Explain how neurons work together in groups to process
information and produce effective output.
– Provide specific examples to demonstrate how the nervous
system responds to maintain homeostasis in the body.
– Explain how the nervous system relates to other body
systems to maintain homeostasis.
– Predict factors or situations affecting the nervous system
that could disrupt homeostasis.
– Predict the types of problems that would occur in the body
if the nervous system could not maintain homeostasis.
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 Neural Integration
• Neural integration—the ability to process, store, and
recall information and use it to make decisions
• Chemical synapses allow for decision making
– Brain cells are incredibly well connected allowing for
complex integration
• The neurons of cerebral cortex have about 40,000
contacts with other neurons
– Trade off: chemical transmission involves a synaptic delay
that makes information travel _________________than it
would be if there was no synapse

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 Postsynaptic Potentials 13
• Different neurotransmitters cause different types of
postsynaptic potentials in the cells they bind to
– Some produce EPSPs and some produce IPSPs
• The same neurotransmitter might excite some cells and
inhibit others, depending on the type of receptors the
postsynaptic cells have
– Acetylcholine (ACh) and norepinephrine work this way
– ACh excites skeletal muscle but inhibits cardiac muscle
because of different ACh receptors

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 Summation, Facilitation, and Inhibition 1
• One neuron can receive input from thousands of other
neurons
• Summation—the process of adding up postsynaptic
potentials and responding to their net effect
– Occurs in the trigger zone

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 Summation, Facilitation, and Inhibition 2
• The balance between EPSPs and IPSPs enables the nervous
system to make decisions
• Temporal summation—occurs when a single synapse
generates EPSPs so quickly that each is generated before
the previous one fades
• Spatial summation—occurs when EPSPs from several
different synapses add up to threshold at an axon hillock
– An example of facilitation—a process in which one
neuron enhances the effect of another

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 Temporal and Spatial Summation

3) Postsynaptic
neuron fires
2) EPSPs spread
from one synapse
1) Intense stimulation to trigger zone
by one presynaptic
neuron
(a) Temporal summation

3) Postsynaptic
neuron fires
2) EPSPs spread from
several synapses to
1) Simultaneous stimulation trigger zone
by several presynaptic
neurons
(b) Spatial summation

Figure 12.25
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 Summation of EPSPs

Figure 12.27

• Does this represent spatial or temporal summation?

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 Strychnine Poisoning
• In spinal cord, Renshaw cells normally release an
inhibitory neurotransmitter (glycine) onto motor
neurons preventing excessive muscle contraction
• Strychnine binds to and blocks glycine receptors in the
spinal cord
• What happens to the muscle: Excess contraction or no
contraction?

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 Alzheimer Disease 1
• 6th leading cause of death in United States
• Memory loss for recent events, moody, combative, lose ability to
talk, walk, and eat
• Show deficiencies of acetylcholine: What would you give to help?
• Diagnosis confirmed at autopsy
– Atrophy of gyri (folds) and formation of abnormal proteins
– Blocks normal synaptic function
• Treatment
– Trying to find ways to clear or halt the production of abnormal
proteins
• No prevention or cure: SHIELD

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 Alzheimer Disease 2

a: © Science Source; b: © Simon Fraser/Science Source

Figure 12.33a, b

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