Bill's Nerve Pix
Comparison of a motor nerve and a nerve diagram. Signals often move from dendrite to soma to axon.
A tracing of a pyramidal cell showing the extensive branching of the dendrites (bottom) and long, branched axon (top)
Cross section through the spinal cord showing the location of grey and white matter.
Presynaptic vs. Postsynaptic cells and a micrograph of a synapse
Sodium flow and the action potential
Run the Nerve
Simulation 
Digital coding of analog signals
Generalized structure of the nervous system
A thing on the nose
Various forms of nerve cells. A. Pyramidal cell. B. Small multipolar cell, in which the axon quickly divides into numerous branches. C. Small fusiform cell. D and E. Ganglion cells (E shows T-shaped division of axon). ax. Axon. c. Capsule. (From Grey's Anatomy)
Purkinje fiber (cerebellum)
Neuroglia Cells (Gray's Anatomy)
A stimulated presynaptic cell (left) releases
neurotransmitters from vesicles (
). The transmitters(
) float across the synaptic cleft (gap) and join with receptors on the
postsynaptic cell (
).
This excites the postsynaptic cell (
) and the postsynaptic cell produces an action potential.
After the postsynaptic cell releases the neurotransmitters, they are reabsorbed by the presynaptic cell. Many antidepressants, such as Prozac, work at this level. Serotonin uptake inhibitors raise serotonin (a neurotransmitter) levels in the brain by interfering with the reabsorption. Serotonin levels then increase and the depression lifts.
Cartoon depicting the movement of an action potential down an axion, release of neurotransmitters from vesicles, neurotransmitters hitching up to receptors on the postsynaptic cell, then depolarization of the postsynaptic cell and recycling of neuroptransmitter by the presynaptic cell.
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