Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

The Neuron47Axons can vary enormously in length. Most axons are very small; some are nomore than a few thousandths of an inch long. Other axons are quite long. Forexample, the longest axon in your body is that of the motor neuron that controlsyour big toe. This neuron extends from the base of your spine into your foot. If youhappen to be a seven-foot-tall basketball player, this axon could be four feet long!For most of us, of course, this axon is closer to three feet long.The axons of many, though not all, neurons are surrounded by the myelin sheath.The myelin sheath is a white, fatty covering formed by special glial cells. In much thesame way that you can bundle together electrical wires if they are insulated with plastic,myelin helps insulate one axon from the axons of other neurons. Rather thanforming a continuous coating of the axon, the myelin sheath occurs in segments thatare separated by small gaps where there is no myelin. The small gaps are called thenodes of Ranvier, or simply nodes (see Figure 2.1). Neurons wrapped in myelin communicatetheir messages up to 20 times faster than do unmyelinated neurons.The importance of myelin becomes readily apparent when it is damaged. Forexample, multiple sclerosis is a disease that involves the degeneration of patches ofthe myelin sheath. This degeneration causes the transmission of neural messages tobe slowed or interrupted, resulting in disturbances in sensation and movement.Muscular weakness, loss of coordination, and speech and visual disturbances aresome of the symptoms that characterize multiple sclerosis.myelin sheath(MY-eh-lin) A white, fatty covering wrappedaround the axons of some neurons thatincreases their communication speed.action potentialA brief electrical impulse by which informationis transmitted along the axon of aneuron.stimulus thresholdThe minimum level of stimulation requiredto activate a particular neuron.resting potentialState in which a neuron is prepared toactivate and communicate its message ifit receives sufficient stimulation.Communication Within the NeuronThe All-or-None Action PotentialEssentially, the function of neurons is to transmit information throughout the nervoussystem. But exactly how do neurons transmit information? What form does thisinformation take? In this section, we’ll consider the nature of communication withina neuron, and in the following section we’ll describe communication between neurons.As you’ll see, communication in and between neurons is an electrochemical process.In general, messages are gathered by the dendrites and cell body and then transmittedalong the axon in the form of a brief electrical impulse called an actionpotential. The action potential is produced by the movement of electrically chargedparticles, called ions, across the membrane of the axon. Some ions are negativelycharged, others positively charged.Think of the axon membrane as a gatekeeper that carefully controls the balanceof positive and negative ions on the interior and exterior of the axon. As the gatekeeper,the axon membrane opens and closes ion channels that allow ions to flowinto and out of the axon.Each neuron requires a minimum level of stimulation from other neurons or sensoryreceptors to activate it. This minimum level of stimulation is called the neuron’s stimulusthreshold. While waiting for sufficient stimulation to activate it, the neuron is saidto be polarized. This means that there is a difference in the electrical charge between theinside and the outside of the axon.More specifically, there is a greater concentration of negative proteins inside theneuron. Thus, the axon’s interior is more negatively charged than is the exteriorfluid surrounding the axon. The negative electrical charge is about 70 millivolts(thousandths of a volt) (see Figure 2.3 on page 49). The 70 millivolts is referredto as the neuron’s resting potential.In this polarized, negative-inside/positive-outside condition, there are differentconcentrations of two particular ions: sodium and potassium. While the neuron is inresting potential, the fluid surrounding the axon contains a larger concentration ofsodium ions than does the fluid within the axon. The fluid within the axon containsa larger concentration of potassium ions than is found in the fluid outside the axon.When sufficiently stimulated by other neurons or sensory receptors, the neurondepolarizes, beginning the action potential. At each successive axon segment,sodium ion channels open for a mere thousandth of a second. The sodium ionsThe Brain Capturing a Thought In thebrain, as in the rest of the nervous system,information is transmitted by electricalimpulses (red area) that speed from oneneuron to the next.