Tag Archives: CNS

SYNAPSES AND NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTIONS OF NEURONS-TUTORIAL

Chemical Transmitters Carry the Signal Across Synapses & Neuromuscular Junctions

  • A contact between 2 nerves is called a synapse
  • At the synapse there is a break in electrical transmission (the action potential cannot cross)- instead chemicals are released that carry the signal to the next nerve
    • The release of chemical transmitters at nerve endings was first shown by Otto Loewi in the frog heart
  • A neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a contact between a nerve and a muscle- it is like a synapse, the action potential stops and the signal is carried by a chemical