Name: Mechanism of Hearing
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 7 min
Description: Our ear contains more than 20,000 hair cells, and our ability to hear relies upon these tiny hair cells that are located deep within the ear. Watch this video.

Question

Explain the process of the transport and release of a neurotransmitter with the help of a labeled diagram showing a complete neuron, axon terminal, and synapse.

Accepted Answer

A neuron has three main parts, namely, cell body, axon and dendrites. Any nerve impulse passes from one neuron to another via the axon.

The junction between two neurons is called a synapse. A synapse is made by membranes of the presynaptic neuron and postsynaptic neuron. A gap between them is called the synaptic cleft. The axon terminals contain synaptic knob that contains a number of synaptic vesicles, which contain the neurotransmitter.

Fig. Labelled diagram showing complete neuron, axon terminal and synapse.

When an impulse arrives at the axon terminal, it stimulates the movement of the synaptic vesicles towards the membrane, where they fuse with the plasma membrane and release their neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft.

Once the neurotransmitters are released in the synapse, they are taken up by specialized receptors present on the membrane of the postsynaptic neuron. The entry of neurotransmitters into postsynaptic neuron completes the transmission of neural signals.

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