Richard Hawran and Christine Diaz

The Synapse

Neurons are hyper specialized brain cells that are the core components of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. Neurons receive messages and send them throughout the entire body, contacting every organ and muscle. Neurons assemble into circuits that underlie all of our abilities, from the simplest to the most complex.

The information that neurons transmit amongst each other are transmitted across gaps called synapses. Synapses form between the axon terminal of the presynaptic membrane (neuron sending the message) and the dendrite surface of the post synaptic membrane (neuron receiving the message).

A neurotransmitter is the chemical substance that neurons use to communicate with the post synaptic neuron. After a neuron gets the signal to release neurotransmitters into the synapse, they travel across the small gap and make their way to receptors where they produce electrical changes in the postsynaptic cell that may be excitatory or inhibitory.

The Action Potential

We mentioned "the signal" that tells the neuron to release the neurotransmitters into the synapse, but what constitutes this signal? Electrical signals are the vocabulary of the nervous system, nearly everything that happens in the nervous system started with what is called an action potential. Every neuron has an electrical charge, and its baseline is called its resting membrane potential. When the membrane potential changes, there is the possibility of triggering an action potential. To make sure action potentials don't happen on their own, there is a threshold, which is the point that the membrane potential must reach in order to create the electrical impulse. Also, this spike of positive and negative ionic discharge is an all or nothing event, meaning that unless the membrane potential reaches a certain voltage threshold, the neuron will not fire. It is the rapid pattern, up to 1,200 spikes

per second that encode messages for the entire body. To the left is a schematic representation of the action potential.

Note: It is in the tradition of Kids Judge! for the University to publish the game and materials online for the benefit of the participants. However, the future of this version of synaptic ping pong is uncertain and we are withholding our design from the web for the time being.

Thank you..

Brentt Swetter for letting us create your brainchild.

Both images are from scienceblogs.com and Dr. Cannon's Homepage respectively.