What is the Brain made up of?
Grey matter which consists of neurons.
What do neurons do?
Recieve and transmit information in the form of tiny electrical charges.
What are the types of neurons?
- Motor neurons
- Sensory neurons
- Inter-neurons
What do Motor neurons do?
Recieve messages from the CNS and generate movements.
What do Sensory neurons do?
Transmit information about the 5 sense from your sense organs to the rest of the brain.
What do Inter-neurons do?
Take messages between other neurons.
What are the features of neurons?
- Has a cell body with a nucleus in the middle.
- Has branch-like dendrites (greek word for tree) which pick up information from other cells and turn it into an electric signal.
- Electric charge travels down axon, which is the long ‘tail’ of the cell, until it gets to the axon terminals, which look like fingers.
- Terminals pass the information on to the dendrites of the next cell in the chain.
- Synaptic gap is the space between the axon terminal and the dendrite of the next cell.
How do neurons communicate with each other?
- Axon terminals use electrical signals to produce neurotransmitters.
- These float across synaptic gap until they’re picked up by receptors on the dendrite on the other side of the gap.
- Then converted back into an electrical charge which zooms down the next neuron and the process is repeated.
- These float across synaptic gap until they’re picked up by receptors on the dendrite on the other side of the gap.
What happens to neurotransmitters that don’t attach themselves to a receptor?
Recycled (re-uptake). If reuptake is inhibited, the neurotransmitter will stay longer in the synapse, trying to pass on its message.
Why are neurotransmitters important?
Without them, neurons can’t communicate. Different neurotransmitters have different functions and they bind to their own type of receptor on the dendrite.
What are the different types of neurotransmitters?
- Noradrenaline
- Dopamine
- Serotonin
What does Noradrenaline do?
Produces attention and triggers “fight or flight” response. People with ADHD seem to benefit from being prescribed noradrenaline.
What does Dopamine do?
Linked to feelings of pleasure and seems to play a part in addiction. Drugs that block dopamine receptors seem to help reduce symptoms in Sz.
What does Serotonin do?
Neurotransmitter for happiness. Drugs which boost it (inhibit re-uptake) can reduce depression.
How fast are neurotransmitters at taking effect?
Less than a millisecond.
Why is it important to have a good balance of neurotransmitters?
Balance = good mood and clear thinking. All neurotransmitters interact with eachother.
- Decrease dopamine = anxiety.
- Decrease noradrenaline = tired.
- Decrease serotonin = depression.
