Brain

9 Pages 2236 Words

The understanding of how the neuron (the basic functional cell of the nervous system) works is
fundamental to all processes such as sensation, perception, memory, emotion, cognition, etc., in
health and in disease.
In this article, the second of a series on the fundamentals of the neuron, you will learn how inorganic
ions, the cell membrane and basic processes, such as diffusion and ion transport, generate one of
its basic and most important characteristics, the resting membrane potential.
The resting membrane potential is a stable electrical charge of approximately -65 to -70 milivolts of
the internal side (inside the cell) in relation to the external side. It is the basis of bioelectricity, that is,
the generation and use of electrical energy by excitable cells such as the neuron to perform its
functions of storage and transmission of information.
The last article of the series, in the next issue, will explain how neurons actively transmit information
by means of the action potential. The action potential is a sudden and reversible depolarization
(reversal of the membrane potential value) which propagates across the dendrites and axon of a neuron.

Electricity is a natural phenomenon in our body and it is involved in the specific functions of certain special cells in the brain and in smooth and striated muscles. Each pattern of light, sound, heat, pain, each twinkle, finger snap, each thought translates into a sequence of electric pulses. How does it happen?
Nerve cells possess properties similar to other cells in many aspects: they feed, breed, undergo processes of diffusion and osmosis in their membranes andso on, but they differ in a major aspect: they process information. The ability of nerve cells to process information relies upon the special properties of the neuron membrane, which controls the flow of substances to the inner cell (sodium, calcium and potassium ions and so on).
Neurons do not ex...