Chemical synapse
hideChemical synapses are specialized junctions through which neurons signal to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in muscles or glands. Chemical synapses allow neurons to form circuits within the central nervous system. They are crucial to the biological computations that underlie perception and thought. They allow the nervous system to connect to and control other systems of the body.
The adult human brain is estimated to contain from 1014 to 5 × 1014 (100-500 trillion) synapses.[citation needed] Each mm3 of cerebral cortex contains roughly a billion of them.
The word "synapse" comes from "synaptein", which Sir Charles Scott Sherrington and colleagues coined from the Greek "syn-" ("together") and "haptein" ("to clasp"). Chemical synapses are not the only type of biological synapse: electrical and immunological synapses also exist. Without a qualifier, however, "synapse" commonly means chemical synapse.
For more information about Chemical synapse, read the full article at
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News tagged with synapses
Findings could speed the development of drugs for Parkinson's disease
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Nov 18, 2009 |
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Australian scientists have significantly advanced our understanding of dopamine release from nerve cells, findings that should speed the development of more effective drugs for treating Parkinson's Disease.
Study May Explain How A Well-Known Epilepsy and Pain Drug Works
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A Duke University Medical Center researcher who spent years looking for the signals that prompt the brain to form new connections between neurons has found one that may explain precisely how a well-known ...
Neurons found to be similar to Electoral College
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 14, 2009 |
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A tiny neuron is a very complicated structure. Its complex network of dendrites, axons and synapses is constantly dealing with information, deciding whether or not to send a nerve impulse, to drive a certain action.
Gene called flower missing link in vesicle uptake in neurons
Sep 03, 2009 |
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As part of the intricate ballet of synaptic transmission from one neuron to the next, tiny vesicles - bubbles containing the chemical neurotransmitters that make information exchange possible -- travel to the tip of neurons ...
Fragile period of childhood brain development could underlie epilepsy
Aug 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A form of partial epilepsy associated with auditory and other sensory hallucinations has been linked to the disruption of brain development during early childhood, according to a study led ...
Researchers visualize formation of a new synapse
Jun 18, 2009 |
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A protein called neuroligin that is implicated in some forms of autism is critical to the construction of a working synapse, locking neurons together like "molecular Velcro," a study lead by a team of UC Davis researchers ...
Capturing the birth of a synapse
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
May 27, 2009 |
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Researchers have identified the locking mechanism that allows some neurons to form synapses to pass along essential information. Mutations of genes that produce a critical cell-adhesion molecule involved in ...
Fishy fight-or-flight response may hold answers to human nerve damage
Apr 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Alberta are looking to the tiny zebrafish for a way to regenerate damaged nerve cells in people.
Sleep: Spring cleaning for the brain?
Apr 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- If you've ever been sleep-deprived, you know the feeling that your brain is full of wool.
Turn back, wayward axon
Mar 09, 2009 |
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To a growing axon, the protein RGMa is a "Wrong Way" sign, alerting it to head in another direction. As Hata et al. demonstrate in the March 9, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, translating that s ...
Coming undone: How stress unravels the brain's structure
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Mar 04, 2009 |
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The helpless behavior that is commonly linked to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is preceded by stress-related losses of synapses—microscopic connections between brain cells—in the brain's hippocampal ...
It takes two to tango: Not only the receiving, but also the transmitting terminal of a nerve cell's synapse is higly ada
Nov 26, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Where would we be without our ability to remember important information or, for that matter, to forget irrelevant details? Thanks to the flexibility of the nerve cell's communication units, ...
How is our left brain is different from our right?
Nov 17, 2008 |
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Since the historical discovery of the speech center in the left cortex in 150 years ago, functional differences between left and right hemisphere have been well known; language is mainly handled by left hemisphere, while ...
Astrocytes and synaptic plasticity
Biology /
Oct 13, 2008 |
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By mopping up excess neurotrophic factor from neuronal synapses, astrocytes may finely tune synaptic transmission to affect processes such as learning and memory, say Bergami et al.
