Cellular Signaling Inspired Debian Kernel - secured OS intended for neurotransmission research and bioengineering environments.
-
Neurons talk to each other across synapses. When an action potential reaches the presynaptic terminal, it causes neurotransmitter to be released from the neuron into the synaptic cleft, a 20–40nm gap between the presynaptic axon terminal and the postsynaptic dendrite (often a spine).
-
After traveling across the synaptic cleft, the transmitter will attach to neurotransmitter receptors on the postsynaptic side, and depending on the neurotransmitter released (which is dependent on the type of neuron releasing it), particular positive (e.g. Na+, K+, Ca+) or negative ions (e.g. Cl-) will travel through channels that span the membrane.
Synapses can be thought of as converting an electrical signal (the action potential) into a chemical signal in the form of neurotransmitter release, and then, upon binding of the transmitter to the postsynaptic receptor, switching the signal back again into an electrical form, as charged ions flow into or out of the postsynaptic neuron.
-
The brain contains billions of nerve cells, or neurons, which receive and integrate signals from the environment, and which govern the body's responses. Nervous system activity is made possible by synapses, contacts formed either between neurons or between a neuron and a target cell. Synapses are asymmetric structures in which neurotransmitter molecules are released from the presynaptic membrane and activate receptors on the postsynaptic membrane, thus establishing neuronal communication.
-
Neurons communicate with each other via electrical events called ‘action potentials’ and chemical neurotransmitters. At the junction between two neurons (synapse), an action potential causes neuron A to release a chemical neurotransmitter. The neurotransmitter can either help (excite) or hinder (inhibit) neuron B from firing its own action potential.
Synapses are asymmetric structures in which neurotransmitter molecules are released from the presynaptic membrane and activate receptors on the postsynaptic membrane, thus establishing neuronal communication.
- In an intact brain, the balance of hundreds of excitatory and inhibitory inputs to a neuron determines whether an action potential will result. Neurons are essentially electrical devices. There are many channels sitting in the cell membrane (the boundary between a cell’s inside and outside) that allow positive or negative ions to flow into and out of the cell.