Summary: Neuroscience

Read the summary and the most important questions on Neuroscience

• 1 Studying the nervous system

• 1.1 Overview

• What will form a neural circuit?

  Subsets of neurons and glia that form ensembles.

• What are neural circuits?

  The primary components of neural systems that process different types of information.

• Neural systems serve one of three general purposes:

  1. Sensory systems report information about the state of the organism and its environment.
     
  2. Motor systems organize and generate actions.
  3. Associational systems provide 'higher-order' brain functions such as perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, and thinking, all of which fall under cognition.
     

• 1.3 Cellular components of the nervous system

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• With what invention were the nerve cells clearly established as functionally independent units?

  When high-magnification, high-resolution images were obtained with the electron microscope.

• What do gap junctions allow?

  For cytoplasmic continuity and the direct transfer of electrical and chemical signals between cells in the nervous system.

• The cells of the nervous system can be divided into two broad categories:

  • Nerve cells / neurons
    

  • Glial cells / neuroglia / glia 

• What is the function of neurons?

  They are specialized for electrical signaling over long distances.

• What is the function of glial cells?

  • Support the signaling functions of nerve cells.
    
  • Are essential contributors to repairing nervous system damage, acting as stem cells.

• What is the difference with organelles in the neurons / glial cells versus all other cells.

  Neurons and glia share the complement of organelles. However, they are often more prominent in different regions of the cell.

• 2 Electrical Signals of Nerve Cells

• 2.1 Overview

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• How can the resting membrane potential be measured?

  By recording the voltage between the inside and the outside of nerve cells.