Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

Q1 Neurotransmitters can result in long-term changes in the physiological state

ID: 205696 • Letter: Q

Question

Q1 Neurotransmitters can result in long-term changes in the physiological state of a neuron. One way this can happen is through activation of transcription factors, like CREB. How can neurotransmitters effect gene expression in neurons? Be as specific as possible.

10-Q2: In the vertebrate nervous system, neurotrophins play important roles in development and maintenance. Describe how neurotrophin binding to Trk receptors can regulate gene expression.

10-Q3: There are two main types of integration of signals, what are these and what is the difference between the two?

In Figure 1, a 5-ms depolarizing current pulse was injected into the soma, which produced a single action potential that was recorded in the cell body. Right after that, the distant dendrites of the neuron were activated, which generated a dendritic spike, which propagated to the cell body and resulted in two additional somatic action potentials. What would happen to (A) the first and (B) the second two action potentials if you blocked the dendritic action potentials?

Explanation / Answer

Q1. Neurotransmitters can affect gene expression in neurons. They can induce short term changes in the central nervous system. They are chemicals released from pre synaptic terminals which specifically activate the receptors of postsynaptic cleft. Some of the neurotransmitters are involved in the stimulation of signalling cascade. The second messengers then transduce this signal to the nucleus where the regulation of various gene expressions takes place. Examples of such second messengers include Ca2+ which play an important role by assisting neurotransmitters to modify genetic expression. Other examples include noradrenaline which regulates the activity of certain post synaptic cells by regulating the levels of cAMP. cAMP triggers the production of protein kinase A which further results in the release of catalytic subunit which binds to transcription factor CREB present in nucleus and thus regulates transcription.