The Role of Each Part of the Nerve Cell - Essay Example

Transmission of Electrical Impulses in the Cell Body In order to understand how electrical transmissions occur in a nerve cell, it is important for one to familiarize with the make-up of a basic nerve cell. The image bellow will illustrates the basic structure of the nerve cell. Image available at: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/biology/nervecell.html A nerve cell is composed of a cell body, dendrites, nucleus, axon, axon terminals, nodes of Ranvier, and synapse (Mosby 26). Cell body of a nerve cell is the area where the nucleus is contained. This part of a nerve cell is also known as a Soma. The nucleus is the part in which the Ribonucleic acid and Deoxyribonucleic acid which is tasked with reproduction and growth of the cell. Dendrites are projections which are branched which are used to ensure that electrical stimulations are conducted from other nerve cells. Axons are projections that are left with the task of ensuring that electrical impulses are conducted outside the neuron. Nodes of Ranvier are gaps that occur periodically after the cell body of a neuron that ensure conductions of electrical impulses rapidly are facilitated in the nerve cell. Synapse is the region in the nerve selves which is also charged with ensuring that transmitted chemical or electrical impulses are transmitted away from the nerve cell to another cell. The regions of a nerve cell that hare mentioned above are the key structures in the nerve cell that work simultaneously to ensure that transmission of electrical impulses goes on smoothly in a nerve cell. However, it is important to explore further the role of each part of the nerve cell in order to understand how electrical impulses are transmitted the cell until it exists it. Most scholars have compared a nerve cell with an electrical transmitter in order to understand its functioning. This is due to the fact that whether an electrical impulse is generated or received by the cell, it must be transmitted to another destination. The first step that occurs in the generation or transmission of electrical impulses is the generation of an action potential in the cell body of a nerve Cell (Stufflebeam) An action potential is usually an electrical pulse that is between 50 to 70 millivolts. This change is in the electrical potential of the sheath of the cell body, which is either positive or negative depending on the stimulus that has resulted in the change in the electrical potential of the cell body. The electrical impulse as a result of the action potential is propagated to the axons at a speed 10s of meters per every second. However the speed at which it is propagate is usually determined by the size of the fibers of the axon. When finally the electrical signal I received by the axon, it is transmitted to cell that are neighboring through a chemical neurotransmitter. Depending on the electrical impulse being transmitted to a neighboring nerve cell, there are various chemical neurotransmitters produced as impulse for the dentrites of the next nerve cell. They are classified into three groups namely Acetylcholine, Amines, and aminbo acids. Amines include, Epinephrine Dopamine Norephinephrine and Serotonin which all have an excitatory function. Amino acids include glycine, glutamate, G-Aminobutiric acid. All these have an Inhibitory function except glutamate ac which has an Inhibitory function. Finally, Acetylcholine is has an excitatory function (Charand). Synapses are important to the function of a nerve cell since they pass signals to other nerve cells that have been targeted individually. The plasma of the synapse which is from the cell passing on electrical impulses is usually in close contact with the plasma of the dendrite from the cell that is receiving electric impulses. How a synapse transmits electric impulses to other nerve cells greatly depends on the type of the synapse. This is so since there are two types of synapses which are chemical synapses and electrical synapses. In a synapse which is electrical the postsynaptic and presynaptic membranes are connected by channels referred to as gap junctions which pass electric current causing voltage changes in the neighboring nerve cell. On the other hand activity that is electrical is in the neuron that is presynaptic is usually converted into neurotransmitters that joins receptors in the plasma membrane. A synaptic cleft is the space between two nerve cells where through which an electrical impulse is transmitted from one nerve cell to another. This is where the synapse of a nerve cell transmits a nerve impulse to the dendrites of another neuron. Dendrites play a crucial role in the transmission of nerve impulses through neurons (Mosby 45). This is so due to the fact that dendrites receive transmissions from the synapse of other nerve cells in form of impulses hence determining the electric impulse that will be transmitted to the neighboring nerve cell. For example the dendrites of a nerve cell do not perform its factions well then the cell body will either create an action potential that is wrong hence transmitting the wrong electric impulse to neighboring cells or, it will create no action potential at all thus transmitting no electrical impulse the destined nerve cells. Depending on the stimulus received by the dendrites, they play the role of instructing the neurons on what amount or type of action potential that the cell body of the nerve cell produces. It is imperative to note that no part of the process of transmitting an electrical impulse either within one nerve cell or between different nerve cells is independent from the other. The generation and transmission of nerve impulses is a chain reaction where one process results from the previous and no process can exist without the other. For example if dendrites do not get the stimulus required from electric impulses received from other cells, then the cell body will not be able to get an action potential which results in transmission of electric impulses to other nerve cells hence it being referred to as a chain reaction. It is through this simple process inside one nerve cell that rests in the functioning and survival of all living things. Works Cited Charand Ka Xiong. Nerve Cell, 2013. Web. Available at: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/biology/nervecell.html Mosby. Mosby’s Medical Dictionary. Amsterdam, Elsevier Health Sciences, 2013. Stufflebeam Robert. Neurons, Synapses, Action Potentials, and Neurotransmission, 2008. Available at: http://www.mind.ilstu.edu/curriculum/neurons_intro/neurons_intro.php Read More