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