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Article: Synaptic Transmission
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- Biology
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Synaptic Transmission
Synaptic transmission is the process whereby one neuron (nerve cell) communicates with other neurons or
effectors
, such as a muscle cell, at a synapse. A typical neuron has a cell body (soma), branching processes specialized to receive incoming signals (dendrites), and a single process (axon) that carries electrical signals away from the neuron toward other neurons or effectors. Electrical signals carried by
axons
are
action potentials
. Axons often have thousands of terminal branches, each ending as a bulbous enlargement, the synaptic knob or synaptic terminal. At the synaptic knob, the action potential is converted into a chemical message which, in turn, ...