Introduction to Physiology for medical and dental

Electrical events in neurons

Fatima Ryalat, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, Physiology and Biochemistry Department,

School of Medicine, University of Jordan
80-95%
(in anterior
motor neuron)

5-20%
 Integrative zone
Input zone Conductive zone

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00051.2003
Voltage gated channels
Ligand gated channels
 threshold

Action potential

Postsynaptic potential Voltage gated channels

(PSP) Ligand gated channels
+
Threshold

Depolarization

RMP

Hyperpolarization
-
 Action potential in the axon

Action potential does not begin adjacent to the excitatory

synapses. Instead, it begins in the initial segment of the axon.

The main reason is that the soma has relatively few voltage
gated sodium channels in its membrane, which makes it
difficult for the EPSP to open the required number of sodium
channels to elicit an action potential.
 Action potential in the axon

• The membrane of the initial segment of the axon has 7 times

as great a concentration of voltage-gated Na+ channels as
does the soma and, therefore, can generate an action
potential with much greater ease than can the soma.

• The threshold is lower in the axon initial segment than the

soma.
Dendrites:

Large spatial field of

excitation.

A great opportunity for

summation of signals from
many neurons.
Most dendrites can not
transmit action potentials.

Decremental conduction:

decrease in membrane
potential as it spreads
electrotonically along
dendrites toward the soma.
Dendrites are long.
Their membranes are thin and at
least partially permeable to K+
and Cl-, making them “leaky” to
electric current.

Therefore, before the excitatory

potentials can reach the soma, a
large share of the potential is
lost.
 The farther the excitatory
synapse is from the soma,
the greater the decrement
and the lesser the excitatory
signal reaching the soma.
 1

2
 IPSP -5 mV

EPSP +10 mV
 Excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP)

• This positive increase in voltage above the normal resting

neuronal potential— that is, to a less negative value—is
called the excitatory postsynaptic potential (or EPSP),
because if this potential rises high enough in the positive
direction, it will elicit an action potential in the postsynaptic
neuron, thus exciting it.

• EPSP is +20 millivolts means 20 millivolts more positive than

the resting value.
 Inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP)

• Opening potassium or chloride channels.

• An increase in negativity beyond the normal resting

membrane potential level is called an inhibitory postsynaptic
potential (IPSP).

• IPSP is -20 millivolts means 20 millivolts more negative than

the resting value.
Soma:
uniform distribution of
electrical potential:

Large diameter (less resistance

to conductance).

Highly conductive electrolytic

fluid.

(change in membrane potential

will be transmitted equally to all
parts of the soma.)
 Resting membrane potential of neuronal soma

• Any change in potential in any part of the intra-somal fluid

causes an almost exactly equal change in potential at all
other points inside the soma.

• This principle is important because it plays a major role in

“summation” of signals entering the neuron from multiple
sources.
 Summation in neurons

• Excitation of a single presynaptic terminal on the surface of a

neuron almost never excites the neuron.

• The reason is that the amount of transmitter substance

released by a single terminal to cause an EPSP is usually no
greater than 0.5 to 1 millivolt, instead of the 10 to 20
millivolts normally required to reach threshold for excitation.
 Spatial summation in neurons

• The effect of summing simultaneous postsynaptic potentials

by activating multiple terminals on widely spaced areas of
the neuronal membrane is called spatial summation.
 Temporal summation in neurons
• Each time a presynaptic terminal fires, the released transmitter
substance opens the membrane channels for at most a millisecond or
so. However, the changed postsynaptic potential lasts up to 15
milliseconds after the synaptic membrane channels have already
closed.
• Therefore, a second opening of the same channels can increase the
postsynaptic potential to a still greater level, and the more rapid the
rate of stimulation, the greater the postsynaptic potential becomes.
Thus, successive discharges from a single presynaptic terminal, if they
occur rapidly enough, can add to one another; that is, they can
“summate.” This type of summation is called temporal summation.
 Time course of postsynaptic potentials
• When an excitatory synapse excites the anterior motor neuron, the
neuronal membrane becomes highly permeable to sodium ions for 1
to 2 milliseconds.
• During this very short time, enough sodium ions diffuse rapidly to the
interior of the postsynaptic motor neuron to increase its
intraneuronal potential by a few millivolts, thus creating the EPSP.
• This potential then slowly declines over the next 15 milliseconds
because this is the time required for the excess positive charges to
leak out of the excited neuron and to re-establish the normal resting
membrane potential.
 Time course of postsynaptic potentials

• The opposite effect occurs for an IPSP;

• The inhibitory synapse increases the permeability of the
membrane to potassium or chloride ions, or both, for 1 to 2
milliseconds, and this action decreases the intraneuronal
potential to a more negative value than normal, thereby
creating the IPSP.
• This potential also dies away in about 15 milliseconds.
 Time course of postsynaptic potentials

• Other types of transmitter substances can excite or inhibit

the postsynaptic neuron for much longer periods— for
hundreds of milliseconds or even for seconds, minutes, or
hours. This is especially true for some of the neuropeptide
transmitters.
 Summation of IPSP and EPSP

• If an IPSP is tending to decrease the membrane potential to a

more negative value while an EPSP is tending to increase the
potential at the same time, these two effects can either
completely or partially nullify each other.
 Presynaptic inhibition
• In addition to inhibition caused by inhibitory synapses operating at
the neuronal membrane, which is called postsynaptic inhibition.

• Presynaptic inhibition is caused by release of an inhibitory substance

onto the outsides of the presynaptic nerve fibrils before their own
endings terminate on the postsynaptic neuron.
• In most instances, the inhibitory transmitter substance is GABA.
• This release has a specific effect of opening anion channels, allowing
large numbers of Cl- ions to diffuse into the terminal fibril.
 Presynaptic inhibition
• The negative charges of these ions inhibit synaptic transmission
because they cancel much of the excitatory effect of the positively
charged sodium ions that also enter the terminal fibrils when an
action potential arrives.

• Presynaptic inhibition occurs in many of the sensory pathways in the

nervous system, such as, adjacent sensory nerve fibers often mutually
inhibit one another, which minimizes sideways spread and mixing of
signals in sensory tracts.
 Facilitation of neurons

• Often the summated postsynaptic potential is excitatory but

has not risen high enough to reach the threshold for firing by
the postsynaptic neuron.
• When this situation occurs, the neuron is said to be
facilitated.
• That is, its membrane potential is nearer the threshold for
firing than normal but is not yet at the firing level.
 Facilitation of neurons

• Consequently, another excitatory signal entering the neuron

from some other source can then excite the neuron very
easily.

• Diffuse signals in the nervous system often do facilitate large

groups of neurons so that they can respond quickly and
easily to signals arriving from other sources.
 State of excitation and rate of firing
• Excitatory State Is the Summated Degree of Excitatory Drive to the
Neuron.
• If there is a higher degree of excitation than inhibition of the neuron
at any given instant, then it is said that there is an excitatory state.
• Conversely, if there is more inhibition than excitation, then it is said
that there is an inhibitory state.
• When the excitatory state of a neuron rises above the threshold for
excitation, the neuron will fire repetitively as long as the excitatory
state remains at that level.
 State of excitation and rate of firing
• Figure shows responses of three types of neurons to varying levels of
excitatory state.
• Neuron 1 has a low threshold for excitation, whereas neuron 3 has a
high threshold.
• Neuron 2 has the lowest maximum frequency of discharge, whereas
neuron 3 has the highest maximum frequency.
 EPSP 10 mV

IPSP 20 mV

RMP -65 mV
Threshold -55 mV

EPSP 5 mV
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