1. Neural Communication
Biology/Psychology 2606

2. Introduction
It was pretty clear early on that electricity played a role of some sort in neural communication
Galvani, frogs’ legs and lightning
Fritsch and Hitzig stimulated cortex of various animals, got twitches
Bartholow and Mary Rafferty
Dr. Penfield, I smell burnt toast

5. EEGs are AOK Caton Helmholtz Hodgkin, Huxley and giant axons
Used mircorelectrodes and oscilloscopes to measure the resting potential of a neuron
-70 mV

6. Electrical activity of the neuron
Resting potential
About -70 mV
Selectively allowing certain ions in
With stimulation Na+ is allowed in
Action potential
Changes in one area lead to changes in another
Chemical to electrical, very cool

7. The Sodium Potassium Pump
Active transport takes energy
Easier encoding?
Faster reaction?
An Action potential happens when stimulation causes the pump to sort of stop, Na gets in, K goes out
Sort of reversed later

8. integration Excitatory postsynaptic potentials
Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials
Temporal summation
Spatial summation

9. The axon Hillock Where the axon starts many voltage sensitive channels
Need oh say -50 mV for depolarization
Not all graded potentials are equal

10. Sensation and movement
Receptors for
Light
Sound
Smell
Taste
Touch
Pain
Cold
heat

11. movement Neuron synapses onto end plate Big channels Acetylcholine
Ach antagonists can cause paralysis
Curare
Sarin

12. EEG
Oldest form of brain imaging

13. CAT Scan
Computerized axial tomography

14. PET scan
Positron emission tomography

15. MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging

16. ERPs and single cells Event related potentials
Used to see what is lit up, pretty cheap
Single cell recording uses micro electrodes