GCSE Biology (OCR A)

Topic Summaries

The nervous system and homeostasis

Synapses

  • Electrical impulses move from one neurone to the next at junctions called synapses.
    • An electrical impulse reaches the end of an axon’s branch.
    • The end branches convert the electrical impulse into a chemical signal called neurotransmitters, which diffuse across the synapse.
    • The neurotransmitters bind to the receptors on the dendrites of the neighbouring neurone, triggering the start of an electrical impulse in the neurone.
    • Once bound to receptors, the neurotransmitter is broken down by enzymes to prevent the second neurone from continually sending new electrical impulses.

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