We explain what a neuron looks like, what it does, and how it works. Health Conditions ... the neuron is triggered to send an impulse along its axon — this is called an action potential.

An action potential is a shift in the neuron’s potential electric energy caused by the flow of charged particles in and out of the membrane of the neuron. When an action potential is generated ...

Variability in these properties reflects diversity in pyramidal-neuron function. Action potentials in pyramidal neurons are typically followed by an ADP 87,88,89, which is mediated by voltage ...

Excitatory neurotransmitters increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire a signal called an action potential in the receiving neuron. There are several types of excitatory neurotransmitters ...

Action potentials trigger neuropeptide release, but instead of traversing nanometers to the next neuron as neurotransmitters do, neuropeptides take a long voyage around the brain.

To investigate the effects of 2′-hydroxy-4′-methoxyacetophenone (paeonol) on the electrophysiological behavior of a central neuron (right parietal 4; RP4) of the giant African snail (Achatina ...

A new study published in Science has found that neurons in the brain do not follow a single strategy when learning. Instead, different parts of the same neuron—its upper and lower branches—adjust ...

Then, when the neuron reaches a threshold, it fires off a long series of signals, or action potentials, even in the absence of stimuli. The researchers call this persistent firing, and it all ...

This news release is available in Japanese. Synapse, the name for the signal-receiving site on a neuron, comes from the Greek word for contact. Neuroscientists used to maintain that neurons form ...

A neuron with potential Additional experiments confirmed that AWA neurons indeed spike. The researchers suspect that other C. elegans cells also produce action potentials; yet they note that this ...