In: Biology
What are the ways in which electrical and chemical synapses differ? What implications do these differences have on how they are used in the nervous system?
What is an EPP? What is a MEPP? What is a subthreshold EPP? How do they differ?
What does it mean to say that neurotransmitter release is quantal? How do studies of EPPs reveal this fact? What does one quantum of neurotransmitter represent?
What experiments show that calcium influx is the trigger for neurotransmitter release? What criteria define a neurotransmitter? What experiments address each of these criteria?
What determines whether a postsynaptic cell is depolarized or hyperpolarized by a neurotransmitter?
What are the two different categories of neurotransmitter receptors? How do they differ?
What is an EPC? How is it related to an EPP?
What does the reversal potential of an EPC represent? Why is it important to know?
What is the difference between an EPSP and an IPSP? What determines what kind of PSP it is?
1) The major difference between electrical and chemical synapse is that chemical synapses relay information through chemicals, slow and sturdy, while electrical synapses use electricity, which is quicker but not as efficient. Chemical synapse pass signals in the form of chemical molecules called neurotransmitters while electrical synapse transmits signals in the form of electrical signals without the use of molecules.
In chemical synapse, signals are modified during transmission while it is not so in electrical synapse. Also, in chemical synapse signal transmission is unidirectional while in electrical synapse, transmission is bidirectional.
While electrical synapses are faster (electricity moves quicker than molecules, and you don't need receptors), they lack gain. The electrical signal is always the same or smaller after a synapse, while chemicals can increase a signal. Electrical synapses also have to be much smaller so the channel proteins can reach from one cell to another. Electrical synapses are ofetn found in systems requiring quick responses, like instincts and defense, and chemical synapses in the less urgent places.