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Chemical synapse

Concept

Chemical synapses are biological junctions through which neurons' signals can be sent to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in muscles or glands. Chemical synapses allow neurons to form circuits within the central nervous system. They are crucial to the biological computations that underlie perception and thought. They allow the nervous system to connect to and control other systems of the body. At a chemical synapse, one neuron releases neurotransmitter molecules into a small space (the synaptic cleft) that is adjacent to another neuron.

Concept

Action potential

An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarize. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and in some plant cells. Certain endocrine cells such as pancreatic beta cells, and certain cells of the anterior pituitary gland are also excitable cells.

Concept

Dopamine

Dopamine (DA, a contraction of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) is a neuromodulatory molecule that plays several important roles in cells. It is an organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. Dopamine constitutes about 80% of the catecholamine content in the brain. It is an amine synthesized by removing a carboxyl group from a molecule of its precursor chemical, L-DOPA, which is synthesized in the brain and kidneys. Dopamine is also synthesized in plants and most animals.

Concept

Synapse

In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or to the target effector cell. Synapses are essential to the transmission of nervous impulses from one neuron to another. Neurons are specialized to pass signals to individual target cells, and synapses are the means by which they do so. At a synapse, the plasma membrane of the signal-passing neuron (the presynaptic neuron) comes into close apposition with the membrane of the target (postsynaptic) cell.

Concept

Acetylcholine

Acetylcholine (ACh) is an organic compound that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals (including humans) as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Parts in the body that use or are affected by acetylcholine are referred to as cholinergic. Substances that increase or decrease the overall activity of the cholinergic system are called cholinergics and anticholinergics, respectively.

Concept

Excitatory synapse

An excitatory synapse is a synapse in which an action potential in a presynaptic neuron increases the probability of an action potential occurring in a postsynaptic cell. Neurons form networks through which nerve impulses travels, each neuron often making numerous connections with other cells of neurons. These electrical signals may be excitatory or inhibitory, and, if the total of excitatory influences exceeds that of the inhibitory influences, the neuron will generate a new action potential at its axon hillock, thus transmitting the information to yet another cell.

Course

NX-450: Computational neurosciences: biophysics

The course introduces students to a synthesis of modern neuroscience and state-of-the-art data management, modelling and computing technologies with a focus on the biophysical level.

Course

BIO-311: Neuroscience

The course starts with fundamentals of electrical - and chemical signaling in neurons. Students then learn how neurons in the brain receive and process sensory information, and how other neurons contr

Course

BIO-480: Neuroscience: from molecular mechanisms to disease

The goal of the course is to guide students through the essential aspects of molecular neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. The student will gain the ability to dissect the molecular basis of

Course

BIO-482: Neuroscience: cellular and circuit mechanisms

This course focuses on the biophysical mechanisms of mammalian brain function. We will describe how neurons communicate through synaptic transmission in order to process sensory information ultimately

Lecture

Synaptic Transmission: Electrical vs Chemical

Compares electrical and chemical synapses, emphasizing their properties and behavior, including the neuromuscular junction and synapses in the CNS.

Lecture

Modeling the synaptic potential MOOC: Simulation Neurocience

Explores the modeling of synaptic potentials and the factors influencing their amplitude.

MOOC

Simulation Neurocience

Learn how to digitally reconstruct a single neuron to better study the biological mechanisms of brain function, behaviour and disease.

MOOC

Simulation Neurocience

Learn how to digitally reconstruct a single neuron to better study the biological mechanisms of brain function, behaviour and disease.

Person

Henry Markram

Henry Markram started a dual scientific and medical career at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. His scientific work in the 80s revealed the polymodal receptive fields of pontomedullary reticular formation neurons in vivo and how acetylcholine ...

Person

Pierre Magistretti

Pierre J. Magistretti is an internationally-recognized neuroscientist who has made significant contributions in the field of brain energy metabolism. His group has discovered some of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the coupling between ...

Person

Wulfram Gerstner

Wulfram Gerstner is Director of the Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience LCN at the EPFL. His research in computational neuroscience concentrates on models of spiking neurons and spike-timing dependent plasticity, on the problem of neuronal coding in s ...

Person

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez

ACADEMIC POSITION: Professor, Director of the Laboratory of Behavioral Genetics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. EDUCATION: BS MS Salamanca, Spain, 1984 PhD Cajal Institute, CSIC, and University ...

Publication

Search Results

Chemical synapse

Concept

Concept

Concept

Concept

Concept

Concept

Course

NX-450: Computational neurosciences: biophysics

The course introduces students to a synthesis of modern neuroscience and state-of-the-art data management, modelling and computing technologies with a focus on the biophysical level.

Course

BIO-311: Neuroscience

Course

BIO-480: Neuroscience: from molecular mechanisms to disease

The goal of the course is to guide students through the essential aspects of molecular neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. The student will gain the ability to dissect the molecular basis of

Course

BIO-482: Neuroscience: cellular and circuit mechanisms

Lecture

Synaptic Transmission: Electrical vs Chemical

Compares electrical and chemical synapses, emphasizing their properties and behavior, including the neuromuscular junction and synapses in the CNS.

Lecture

Modeling the synaptic potential MOOC: Simulation Neurocience

Explores the modeling of synaptic potentials and the factors influencing their amplitude.

MOOC

Simulation Neurocience

Learn how to digitally reconstruct a single neuron to better study the biological mechanisms of brain function, behaviour and disease.

MOOC

Simulation Neurocience

Learn how to digitally reconstruct a single neuron to better study the biological mechanisms of brain function, behaviour and disease.

Person

Henry Markram

Person

Pierre Magistretti

Person

Wulfram Gerstner

Person

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez

Publication

Chemical synapse

Chemical synapse

A bistable inhibitory optoGPCR for multiplexed optogenetic control of neural circuits

Fear learning induces synaptic potentiation between engram neurons in the rat lateral amygdala