2-Minute Neuroscience: Synaptic Transmission

welcome to 2minute Neuroscience where I simplistically explain Neuroscience topics in 2 minutes or less in this installment I will discuss synaptic transmission most communication between neurons occurs in a specialized structure called a synapse a synapse is an area where two neurons come close enough to one another that they are able to pass chemical signals from one cell

to another the neurons are not actually connected but are separated by a microscopically small space called the synaptic Clift the Clift is less than 40 NM wide by comparison a human hair is about 75,000 NM wide the neuron where the signal is initiated is called the Press synaptic neuron while the neuron that receives the signal is called the

post synaptic neuron in the presynaptic neuron there are chemical signals called neurotransmitters that are packaged into small sacks called vesicles each vesicle can contain thousands of neurotransmitter molecules when the presynaptic neuron is excited by an electrical signal called an action potential this causes the vesicles to fuse with the preseptic membrane and release their contents into

the synaptic Clift once they're in the synaptic Clift neurotransmitters interact with receptors on the post synaptic membrane they bind to these receptors and can cause an action to occur in the post synaptic cell as a result this action may involve increasing the likelihood that the post synaptic cell will become activated and fire in action potential

or decreasing it eventually the neurotransmitter molecules must be cleared from the synaptic C some of them will simply Drift Away in a process called diffusion in some cases the neurot transmitter is taken back up into the presynaptic neuron in a process called reuptake once back inside the presynaptic neuron the neurotransmitter can be recycled and