SYNAPSE

Rizki Fauziah

3415110139

THE SYNAPSE
Where nerve impulses
convert to
neurotransmitters

The Sanger Institute

Animation: Synapse
Right-click slide / select Play
2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

What is a synapse?

A synapse is the junction between 2 neurones.

There is a very narrow gap of about 20nm
between neurones called the synaptic cleft.

An action potential cannot cross the synaptic

cleft, so nerve impulses are carried by
chemicals called neurotransmitters.

 The synapse is where the nerve impulse

passes from one cell to the next

The electrical signal (the action potential)

stops and a chemical signal takes over to
cross the gap between the cells

The chemical messenger is called a

neurotransmitter

The neurotransmitter crosses the gap by

diffusion, which creates a small delay
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2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitter is made by the

pre-synaptic neurone and is stored
in synaptic vessels at the end of the
axon.

The membrane of the post-synaptic

neurone has chemical-gated ion
channels called neuroreceptors.
These have specific binding sites
for neurotransmitters.

Designer signals

The advantage of using neurotransmitter

is that the nerve impulse can be given
some more specificity

Neurotransmitters can also control the

operation of the nervous system by
inhibition or excitation

Many drugs that try to cure problems in

the nervous system operate at synapses
2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

Neurotransmitters and hormones

In many ways neurotransmitters are

hormones working over a very short
distance (about 20 nm)

Some of them work both at synapses

and in the circulatory system

2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

A Synapse
Pre-synaptic neurone = neurone sending impulse
Post-synaptic neurone = neurone receiving impulse

Cholinergic Synapses

Acetylcholine is a

common transmitter.
Synapses that have
acetylcholine transmitter
are called cholinergic
synapses.

Some neurones form

more than 1 synapse.

This is an electron
micrograph of synapses
between nerve fibres and
a neurone cell body.

1. Action potential arrives at

terminal button
Vesicle storing
neurotransmitter

Ca2+
channel

Membrane receptor
for neurotransmitter

2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

Dept of Biology, Saint Louis University

3. Ca2+ stimulates
vesicles to fuse
with membrane

2. Depolarisation
opens Ca2+ channels
Ca2+ enters terminal
button

Ca2+

2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

Ca2+

Ca2+

Ca2+

4. Exocytosis of
neurotransmitter
It diffuses 20nm across
the synaptic cleft

The passage across the synapse

An action potential travels down an axon to the
terminal buttons or synaptic knobs at the end

The action potential depolarises the membrane of a

terminal button causing voltage-gated Ca2+ channels

to open

Ca2+ ions flood into the terminal button

This stimulates hundreds of synaptic vesicles, packed
with neurotransmitter, to fuse with the membrane of
the terminal button

By exocytosis
The Ca2+ ions are then pumped out again
2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

5. Neurotransmitter
receptor sites on the
postsynaptic membrane
are ion channels.
They open when the
neurotransmitter binds

6. Localised
depolarisation as
ions leak in or out
of membrane.

2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

The passage across the synapse

The neurotransmitter diffuses across cleft

to postsynaptic membrane

The neurotransmitter molecules bind with

specific receptor sites on postsynaptic
membrane

The receptor sites are part of a ligandgated ion channel

These channels let Na+ ions in or K+ ions out

causing localised depolarisation of the
membrane
2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

7. Action potential
generated which
travels down the
postsynaptic cell.
2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

8. Neurotransmitter
destroyed by
enzymes in the cleft.
Stops signal being
perpetuated.

A new action potential

If the localised depolarisations build up to

the nerve cell threshold, a full action

potential will be produced
This will travel away, down the postsynaptic
neurone
The action of the neurotransmitters stops:
(i) as they dilute by diffusion in the synaptic
cleft
(ii) by hydrolysis through the action of
enzymes there
Important: The signal must not be
perpetuated indefinitely
2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

Figure 48.15

Presynaptic
cell

Postsynaptic cell

Axon

Synaptic vesicle
containing
neurotransmitter

Postsynaptic
membrane

Synaptic
cleft
Presynaptic
membrane

3
K
Ca2 2
Voltage-gated
Ca2 channel

Ligand-gated
ion channels

Na

Figure 48.16

Synaptic
terminals
of presynaptic
neurons

5 m

Postsynaptic
neuron

Neuromuscular Junctions

Same stages as

cholinergic synapses
but in this case the
postsynaptic membrane
is the muscle fibre
membrane,
(Sarcolemma).
Depolarisation of the
sarcolemma leads to
contraction of muscle
fibre.

The neuromuscular junction is a

synapse

The motor end plate is the terminal button

of a motor neurone that makes contact with
a muscle cell

The motor end plate releases the

neurotransmitter acetylcholine that
ultimately causes the muscle cell to contract

2008 Paul Billiet ODWS

Motor end plates

David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Chemistry, University of Cincinnati Clermont College

Drugs

Drugs which have molecules of

similar shape to transmitter
substances can affect protein
receptors in postsynaptic
membranes.

Drugs that stimulate a nervous

system are called AGONISTS

Drugs that inhibit a nervous system

are called ANTAGONISTS.

Various effects of drugs on

synapses:
DRUG ACTION

EFFECT

Mimic a neurotransmitter
Stimulate the
neurotransmitter

release

Switch on a synapse
of

Switch on a synapse

Open a neuroreceptor channel

Switch on a synapse

Block a neuroreceptor channel

Switch off a synapse

Inhibit the breakdown enzyme

Switch on a synapse

Inhibit the Na+K+ATPase pump

Stop action potentials

Block the Na+ or K+ channels

Stop action potentials

Effect of nicotine and atropine

Thank
You