12/9/2023 0 Comments Download cluco d costThe efficiency with which information is communicated over long distances by complex networks is an impressive feature of our brains. However, when a neuron is stimulated, various ions suddenly travel into or out of the neuron, changing this voltage and creating an action potential that travels along the axon. There is usually a small voltage across the membrane of a neuron called a resting membrane potential. Like telephone cables, axons transmit information over long distances as electrical signals called action potentials (which are based on differences in the concentrations of certain ions inside and outside the neuron). To use an analogy that may soon be redundant in the era of cell phones, axons are to neurons what telephone cables are to land-line phones. The cell bodies, dendrites and synapses are located in the gray matter of the brain, while axons make up the white matter. The neurons in the brain are made up of four distinct parts: the dendrites, which receive information from other neurons at special structures called synapses the cell body, where the nucleus and genetic material are located the axon, which carries information away from the cell and the synapses at the end of the axon, where information is passed on to the dendrites of other neurons. Most of this energy comes from adenosine triphosphate (or ATP for short), which the body produces by metabolizing glucose and oxygen. The metabolic processes that convert food into energy are particularly important for the brain: although it accounts for just 2% of total body weight, the brain is responsible for 20% of the body’s total energy expenditure. Although metabolism is considered to be a dull subject by some, it is vital to life.
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