Neurotransmitters & Membrane Potential
- A key neurotransmitters used throughout the nervous system is acetylcholine (ACh)
- Synapses that use the neurotransmitter ACh are known as cholinergic synapses
- Acetylecholine can bring about a change in membrane potential, meaning that it can reverse the charge across a nerve cell membrane
- Membrane potential is also referred to as the voltage across a membrane
- The mechanism by which ACh changes membrane potential in neurones is as follows:
- The arrival of a nerve impulse, or action potential, at the presynaptic membrane stimulates release of ACh into the synaptic cleft
- The ACh molecules diffuse across the synaptic cleft and temporarily bind to ligand-gated sodium ion channels in the postsynaptic membrane
- These channels are specialised transmembrane receptors
- This causes a shape change in the sodium ion channel, which then opens, allowing positively charged sodium ions (Na+) to diffuse down a gradient into the cytoplasm of the postsynaptic neurone
- The sodium ions reverse the charge across the postsynaptic membrane, initiating a new nerve impulse in the postsynaptic cell
- ACh molecules are then broken down, using enzyme acetylcholinesterase, to prevent continued stimulation
- The products are absorbed back into the presynaptic membrane, recycled and packaged into vesicles ready to be used when another action potential arrives
Acetylcholine receptor diagram
Acetylcholine binds to receptors on ligand-gated sodium ion channels, opening the channels and allowing Na+ ions to diffuse into nerve cells; this reverses membrane potential