How is neuron able to transmit stimuli

Nuts and Bolts: The Neuron. Wellcome Trust. Electrifying the Brain. Interact with the Brain. Best of BrainFacts Newsletter Our editors' picks from this month's articles.

Core Concepts A beginner's guide to the brain and nervous system. Like Subscribe Follow Follow Subscribe. The value inside of the cell is always stated relative to the outside: mV means the inside is 70 mV more negative than the outside which is given a value of 0 mV. An action potential travels the length of the axon and causes release of neurotransmitter into the synapse. The action potential and consequent transmitter release allow the neuron to communicate with other neurons.

Neurotransmitter — A chemical released from a neuron following an action potential. The neurotransmitter travels across the synapse to excite or inhibit the target neuron. Different types of neurons use different neurotransmitters and therefore have different effects on their targets. Synapse — The junction between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of another, through which the two neurons communicate.

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Action potentials and synapses. Home The Brain Brain functions. There are two different kinds of nerve fibres: fibres that carry information towards the cell body, called dendrites, and fibres that carry information away from it, called axons. Nerves are tight bundles of nerve fibres. Your neurons carry messages in the form of electrical signals called nerve impulses.

To create a nerve impulse, your neurons have to be excited. Stimuli such as light, sound or pressure all excite your neurons, but in most cases, chemicals released by other neurons will trigger a nerve impulse.

Although you have millions of neurons that are densely packed within your nervous system, they never actually touch. So when a nerve impulse reaches the end of one neuron, a neurotransmitter chemical is released. It diffuses from this neuron across a junction and excites the next neuron.

Over half of all the nerve cells in your nervous system do not transmit any impulses.