Control and coordination

Hormonal communication

Nervous communication
- IGCSE & AS Review: Nervous system
- Myelin

Transmission of nerve impulses

- The signals in neurons are not electric currents, but continuous action potentials
• Action potentials: brief changes in the potential difference across the cell membrane, from
-70 mV to +30 mV, of neurons and muscle cells, caused by the inward movement of Na+
ions

- Resting potential: the potential difference maintained across the CSM of a neuron when not
transmitting an action potential; ~70 mV inside, partly maintained by Na+ - K+ pumps
- Factors for maintaining resting potential
• Na+ - K+ pumps in the CSM constantly use ATP to move Na+ out of, and K+ into the axon
o 3 Na+ out for 2 K+ in for 1ATP used

• Presence of organic anions (-) inside the cells, e.g. negatively charged proteins

• Impermeability of membrane to ions

o Prevents Na+ from diffusing across the axon membrane during rest

• Voltage-gated protein channels

o Only allows passage of Na+ & K+ when responding to changes in p.d

*Na+, K+ protein channels on the membrane are always open, and there are more K+ channels
• Due to presence of negative ions inside the cell, outwards diffusion of K + is reduced
➔ Overall effect: more negative ions inside the cell than outside

• Inwards movement of Na+

o Steep concentration gradient
o Attraction of negative charges from inside the cell
➔ Electrochemical gradient

- Action potentials
1. Depolarisation: The reversal of the resting potential across the CSM of the
neuron, resulting in the inside of the cell being more positively charged than the
outside
• The electric current arrives & causes voltage-gated channels to open, allowing Na+ to pass
• Due to the effects mentioned above, Na+ rushes inside
• This changes the CSM p.d (less negative inside), which triggers more Na+ channels to open
• At around -50 mV, even more channels open & the inside reaches +30 mV compared to the
outside
o This is an example of positive feedback – movement of Na+ in facilitates even more
movement of Na+
o ~ -50 mV is considered the threshold potential: the critical p.d across the CSM of a
sensory receptor / neuron, which must be reached before an action potential is
initiated

2. Repolarisation: returning the p.d across the CSM to normal, following

depolarization
• After reaching +30 mV p.d, all the voltage-gated Na+ channels close, stopping Na+
movement
• Conversely, voltage-gated K+ channels open, allowing outwards movement of K+ and
restoring the resting p.d of -70 mV
o The p.d restoration overshoots a little (hyperpolarization), but more on that later
• Voltage-gated K+ channels close & voltage-gated Na+ channels become responsive to
depolarisation again
• All the while, Na+ - K+ pumps continuously work to maintain ion distribution & makes sure
that action potentials can occur

3. Refractory period: a period during which a neuron is recovering from an action

potential, and during which another action potential can’t be generated
• An action potential at any point in an axon’s membrane triggers an action potential on either
side of that point
o After temporary depolarization at the point, current can flow in both directions and
depolarize the resting regions

• During the refractory period, Na+ voltage-gated channels cannot be opened

• Implications of the refractory period
 o Correct direction of signal transfer is ensured
▪ In reality, the signal always enters from 1 side
▪ Due to the refractory period, the following portion of the axon can’t
depolarise the recovering section behind, and only the resting section ahead
o Action potentials are discrete & cannot merge into one another
o There is a minimum time between action potentials occurring at any 1 place on a
neuron
o Length of refractory period determines the maximum frequency of signal
transmission

- Information in signals
• Frequency of action potentials determines the strength of a stimulus
o High-frequency, rapid action potentials ➔ strong stimulus
o Strong stimuli is also more likely to produce action potential in several neurons
• The nature of stimuli is determined by the position of the sensory neuron
o Signal from retina → light, and such

- Speed of conduction of impulses

• 2 factors determine the speed of conduction
o Presence of myelin
o Diameter of axon

• Myelin & saltatory conduction

o Myelin insulates a large SA of the membrane, forcing action potentials to only occur
at nodes of Ranvier, where all the channels & pumps are
o Saltatory conduction: movement of an action potential along a myelinated axon, in
which the AP ‘jumps’ from one node of Ranvier to the next
▪ Local circuits are created between NoRs → APs jump to successive nodes
o Saltatory conduction increases transmission speed by 50x
o Myelin insulation also reduces ATP consumption greatly
 • Diameter
o Larger diameter → more SA for channels & pumps → rate of diffusion of ions
increase → faster impulse transmission

- Triggering an action potential – Stimuli

• Stimuli are varied e.g. light, pressure, sound, temperature, chemicals
• Receptor cells respond to stimuli by initiating action potentials
o Receptor cells are transducers – converts stimuli energy → electrical impulses

• Receptor cells are found in sense organs

o Eye – light receptors
o Ear – sound receptors
o Tongue / taste buds / chemoreceptors

• Some receptors are specialized to detect a specific type of stimulus e.g. chemoreceptors
 o Some other receptors, like touch, are just the ends of the sensory neurons

- Taste buds & chemoreceptors

• The tongue is covered in papillae, each having many taste buds on its surface
• Each taste bud contains 50-100 receptor cells that detect different chemicals / tastes

• Mechanism
o Chemoreceptors are directly influenced by Na+
o Na+ diffuses through selective channels in microvilli on the CSM & depolarizes the
membrane
o Depolarisation creates a receptor potential: a change in the normal resting potential
of a receptor cell, caused by a stimulus
o If there is sufficient stimulation, the receptor potential stimulates voltage-gated
calcium ions to open
o Calcium ions enter the cytoplasm & trigger exocytosis of neurotransmitter-
containing vesicles
o Neurotransmitters stimulates an AP in the sensory neuron, that transmits impulses
to the brain
• Stimuli work with the all-or-none law: neurons only transmit impulses if the initial stimulus
is sufficiently strong to increase the membrane potential above a threshold potential
o Amplitude of action potentials have constant amplitude
o Signals are either transmitted at 100%, or not transmitted

• Threshold potentials can change with continued stimulation

- Synapses
• Synapse: a point where 2 neurons meet but don’t touch; made up of:
o Presynaptic neuron: where neurotransmitters are released when an action potential
arrives
o Synaptic cleft: small gap that neurotransmitters diffuse across
o Postsynaptic neuron: where neurotransmitters are received & the action potential
arrives

- Neurotransmitters
• The pre-neuron cytoplasm contains vesicles containing transmitter substance
• There are more than 40 transmitter substances
o Noradrenaline – found throughout nervous system
▪ Can also be produced by adrenal glands as a hormone

o Acetylcholine (ACh) – found throughout nervous system

▪ Synapses containing ACh are called cholinergic synapses

o Some others e.g. dopamine, glutamic acid, GABA – only found in brain

- Mechanism
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Muscle contraction
- Striated muscles: type of muscle tissue found in skeletal & cardiac muscles; muscle fibres
have regular striations, which can only be seen under light microscopes

- Summary of types of muscles

 • Neurogenic: only contracts when stimulated by a signal from motor neurons
• Myogenic: contracts & relaxes automatically, without a signal from motor neurons (still
needs an electrical impulse though)

- Structure of striated muscles

• Striated muscles are multinucleated – each muscle fibre contains several nuclei
o Not considered a cell b, but a syncytium

• Different names of parts

o Cell surface membrane – sarcolemma
o Cytoplasm – sarcoplasm
o Endoplasmic reticulum – sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)
- Adaptations of striated muscles
• Transverse system tubules (T-tubules)
o Sarcolemma infoldings that go deep into a muscle fibre & conducts impulses to the
SR
o Contains large amounts of ion channels, transporters & pumps, for rapid
transmission of action potentials into the cell

• Sarcoplasm contains mitochondria & myofibrils

o Mitochondria – ATP for muscle contraction
o Myofibrils – cylindrical bundles of thick (myosin) and thin (actin) filaments inside a
muscle fibre
 • SR membranes contain protein pumps that transport Ca2+ ions in to the SR lumen

- Myofibrils
• Located in the sarcoplasm
• Made of 2 types of protein filament
o Thick filaments – myosin
o Thin filaments – actin
• The overlap of filaments is how muscle contraction occurs

• Bands
 o A-band: dark stripes where myosin is + overlap
o H-bands: slightly lighter stripes with only myosin
o I-bands: light stripes with only actin

• Line / discs
o Z-line: a disc holding together actin
o M-line: a disc holding together myosin
o In reality, it’s where the myosin / actin overlaps over themselves

(ignore the other shit just focus on how the actin is arranged)

• Sarcomere: section between 2 Z-lines

- Structure of filaments
• Thick filament – myosin: fibrous protein + globular head
o Fibrous portion anchors molecule into the thick filament
o Myosin molecules lie together in a bundle, with globular heads all pointing away
from the M-line

• Thin filaments – actin: globular protein; links together to form a chain

o 2 chains twist together to form filament
o Other proteins
▪ Tropomyosin: fibrous protein twisted around actin chains; blocks
attachment sites on thin filament to prevent cross-bridge formation
▪ Troponin: calcium-binding protein attached to actin at regular intervals;
same function probably

- Sliding filament model of muscle contraction

• Resting / relaxing: tropomyosin & troponin covers actin such that myosin can’t form cross-
bridges
 • Contraction
o Ca2+ ions are released & binds to troponin & tropomyosin
o The proteins undergoes conformational change & changes position, making space
for myosin heads to form cross-bridges at binding sites
o Myosin heads move to pull actin towards the M-line
o After pulling, the cross-bridge is broken & myosin heads move back to original
position to bind with actin at a further point
▪ Imagine pulling a rope
▪ Myosin heads are an ATP-ase ➔ all energy required for movement & bond
breaking is supplied by ATP hydrolysis at myosin heads
o Process continues as long as ATP is supplied & the 2 proteins aren’t blocking

- Stimulation of muscles
• A muscle is relaxed when there are no actin-myosin cross-bridges
• Without anything to hold onto, any pulling force experienced by filaments will lengthen their
sarcomeres to prepare for contract & shorten again
• Every skeletal muscle has an antagonist, that restores sarcomeres to their original position
when contracting e.g. biceps-triceps