Learning Curve~ Introduction to Neuroscience and the Neuron

Jane's grandmother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Jane did some research so that she could help her grandmother better understand this disease. In her research, Jane found that Alzheimer's involves the deterioration of neurons that produce:

Acetycholine (ACh)

The bushy, branching extension of a neuron receives messages & conducts impulses toward the cell body

Dendrite

Which neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure & plays a role in drug addiction?

Dopamine

Azeeza has just finished running a very tough marathon, and she feels elated. One cause of her "runner's high" may be abnormally high levels of chemical substances in her brain called:

Endorphins

Jaquan suffers from epilepsy because of too much glutamate might be prescribed a drug containing _____ because of this type of neurotransmitter inhibits information transmission

GABA

The relationship between the receptor site on a neuron & the neurotransmitter can be best characterized as similar to the relationship between a:

Lock and key.

Randall is experiencing muscle weakness, loss of coordination & speech, and visual disturbances that result from the slowdown or interruption of neural transmission. The cause of these symptoms probably involves the degradation of his myelin sheath. Randall likely has:

Multiple sclerosis

If a neuron was compared with a prison, the sodium ions could be compared with the _____ when the neuron is at the resting potential.

Prisoners

Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter involved in:

Producing muscle contractions, learning, and memory.

Brooke notices that her little finger can feel pain, which is due to her_____; however, she cannot move it due to damage to her motor neurons

Sensory neurons

Hannah is suffering from depression and has received a prescription for an antidepressant. It is likely that she needs more of the neurotransmitter known as:

Serotonin

If a neuron was compared with a prison, the _____ could be compared with the prisoners when the neuron is at the resting potential.

Sodium Ions

Emily floats a note across a river to Dylan instead of directly passing it from her hand to Dylan's hand. If, in this scenario, the river represents the synapse, which component of the scenario represents the neurotransmitter?

The note

The amount of electrical charge when a neuron is NOT being simulated is called:

The resting potential

There is a dance event going on with students attending from two different elementary schools. Students from one school are wearing purple shirts and students from the other school are wearing silver shirts. Imagine that the students in the purple represent potassium ions and the students in silver represent sodium ions, while the gymnasium represents the neuron. If their distribution is similar to what occurs at the resting potential for a neuron, which students would be moving in and out through the gym doors most often?

The students in the purple shirts would be moving through the doors most often

Dendrites transmit messages _____ the cell body and axons transmit messages _____ the cell body.

Toward; away from

Five-year-old Janna watches her brother throw a baseball. In her brain _____ would respond as if she were throwing the baseball herself

mirror neurons