In our brain, information is passed from one neuron to the next at a structure called synapse. At a chemical synapse, a chemical is released from the signal-sending neuron or presynaptic neuron. This ...

(1) A nerve impulse arrives. (2) This causes calcium ion channels to open, resulting in an influx of calcium ions in the terminal. (3) This causes synaptic vesicles to fuse with the terminal membrane, ...

Understanding the brain's intricate machinery and how it orchestrates behaviors is a long-standing challenge in neuroscience. Yet, how can we ever hope to understand complex behaviors such as ...

A technology called single-molecule imaging has enabled scientists at the University of Maryland to identify the architecture of synapses – the tiny junctions that connect neurons together – and ...

In the nervous system, electrical signals are sent down a nerve cell (neuron) to a synapse that transmit the electrical signal from one nerve cell to another. Their main purpose is to limit the ...

It takes just a few milliseconds: A vesicle, only a few nanometers in size and filled with neurotransmitters, approaches a cell membrane, fuses with it, and releases its chemical messengers into the ...

Also referred to as chemical messengers, neurotransmitters are chemical agents made and released by neurons. They are stored in vesicles at the terminal end (presynaptic terminal) of a neuron. Their ...