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The action potential propagates itself along the neuron

An action potential is a localized

electrical event a change from a neurons resting potential at a specific point. To function as a signal, this local event must travel along the neuron.

A nerve signal starts out as one action

potential, generated on the axon near the cell body of the neuron. The effect of this action potential is like tipping the first of a row of standing dominoes The first domino does not travel along the row, but its fall is relayed to the end of the row, one domino at a time.

The three (nampak 2) parts of Figure

show the changes that occur in part of an axon at three successive times as a nerve signal passes from left to right. As we saw, all the ion movements associated with a particular action potential occur at one place on the axon

left. (1) When this region of the axon

(blue) has its Na+ channels open, Na+ rushes inward (blue arrows), and an action potential is generated. This corresponds to the upswing of the curve on the graph in figure

(2)

When that same region has its K+ channels open, K+ diffuses out of the axon ; at this time, its Na+ channels are closed and inactivated, and we would see the downswing of the action potential initiated in part 1. (3) A short time later, we would see no signs of an action potential at this spot because the axon membrane here has returned to its resting potential.

Now let's see how these events lead to

the domino effect" of a nerve signal. In part 1 of the figure. The blue arrows pointing sideways within the axon indicate local spreading of the electrical changes caused by the in Na+ ions associated with the first action potential .

These changes trigger the opening of Na+

channels in the membrane just to the right of the action potential. As a second action potential is generated, as indicated blue region in part 2. In the same way, a third action potential is generated in part 3, and each action potential generates another all the way down the axon.

So why are action potentials propagated in

only one direction along the axon (left to right in the figure)? As the blue arrows indicate, local electrical changes do spread in both directions in the axon. However, these changes cannot open Na+ channels and generate an action potential when Na+ channels are inactivated. Thus, an action potential cannot be generated in the regions where K+ is leaving (green in the figure) and Na+ channels are still inactivated.

So we see that a nerve signal, also known as

a potential, propagates itself in one direction by the electrical changes it produces in the neuron membrane. A potential is a bit of coded information that can travel from one end of a neuron to another.

What does this tell how a nervous system

actually works? If you rap your finger on a desk, for instance, the contact is a stimulus that trigger action potentials in the tips of sensory neurons in your skin. The action potentials propagate along the axon. Carrying the information (that your finger has hit a hard object) into your central nervous system

Action potentials are all-or-none events; that

is the same no matter how strong or weak the stimulus that triggers them. How, then, do action potentials relay different intensities of information to your central nervous system? It is the frequency of action potentials that with the intensity of stimuli. If you rap your finger hard against the desk, your CNS receives many more potentials per millisecond than after a soft tap.

Once your central nervous system receives

information in the form of action potentials, it can process information and formulate a response to it. The nervous system depends on the sensory neurons passing their signal to other neurons in the CNS.

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