Summary: Electron Micrograph of a chemical synapse
Synaptic cleft
20-40 nm
Neurotransmitter
filled vesicles
Presynaptic
density
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Depolarization activates voltage-gated Ca2+ channels;
the larger the Ca2+ current the greater the release
In the presence of TTX
and TEA voltage-clamped
presynaptic neurons show
inward Ca2+ currents
The post-synaptic
response increases
as the presynaptic
Ca2+ current increases
Llinas and Heuser, 1977
2 fold increases in ICa

Source: Alford, Simon - Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago

Collections: Biology and Medicine