Unit 3: Neurons and Their

Many Functions
 The Parts of a Neuron
• Neurons are composted of essentially 5 parts:
– The Dendrites
– The cell body
– The axon
– The myelin sheath
– The axon terminals

Each part does it’s job to allow neural impulses to

travel through to other neurons, delivering
information throughout our bodies.
 The Parts & their Functions
• Dendrite: the bushy, branching extensions of a
neuron that RECEIVE messages and send them to the
cell body
• Cell Body: the cell’s and neuron’s life support, sends
the received message down the axon.
• Axon: passes messages AWAY from the cell body to
the axon terminals, then on to other neurons.
 The Parts & their Functions

• Myelin Sheath: covers the axon of some neurons,

helps protect the axon and speed the message along.
• Axon Terminals: the ‘end’ of the neuron, forms
junctions with other cells to pass the message on.
 How Neurotransmitters
Communicate
• Neurons use electrical
signals, or action
potential, to send signals.
• The neuron either fires ‘all
or nothing.’
• How do we distinguish a
large stimuli from a small
one? (a slap vs. a pat?): it’s
in the number of neurons
that fire, the greater the
stimuli, the greater
number of neurons firing.
 How Neurotransmitters
Communicate
• Neurons are not connected, but there is a tiny gap they
‘talk’ over called a synapse.
• When the action potential reaches the axon terminals,
it starts the release of neurotransmitters, tiny chemical
messengers.
• The receiving neuron accepts the tiny transmitters,
continuing the action potential to another neuron, and
the sending neuron absorbs the remaining
transmitters in a process called reuptake.
 How Neurotransmitters
Influence Behavior
• Several kinds of
transmitters, for different
jobs
• Most transmitters have a
specific path to the brain,
affecting only particular
areas, thereby influencing
specific behavior/actions
• The brain produces these
naturally, but
drugs/poisons/actions can
flood our system with
particular types.
 Types of Neurotransmitters
• Acetylcholine: enables muscle action, learning, and
memory
• Dopamine: produces pleasurable sensations and
reward, CNS uses for voluntary movement
• Serotonin: affects mood, hunger, sleep, arousal,
aggression and sexual behavior
• Norepinepherine: helps control alertness and
arousal, heart rate, sexual behavior, appetite
• GABA gamma-aminobutyric acid: a major
inhibitory neurotransmitter in CNS
• Glutamine: major excitatory neurotransmitter,
involved in memory, affects learning and memory
How Drugs Affect Us
• If the brain is flooded
with endorphins
constantly, natural
production may cease
• Some drugs inhibit
neurotransmitters, while
others boost production.
• Antagonists bind to
neurotransmitters and
stop them from
functioning
• Agonists bind and mimic
the effects, causing higher
production.