It’s part of my psychology course (I find the subject interesting but absolutely despise the biology parts) and I just can’t seem to understand it. Like, I’ve had several lessons on it and I’ve watched the same videos a bunch of times, but my brain just doesn’t seem to be processing what I’m learning.
Can anyone here who knows what they’re talking about explain to me in simple terms what the process is?
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Meh, it’s hard to get around the biology when discussing synaptic clefts and the transmission of signals.
But here it goes, neurotransmitters are packaged into vesicles and released from the synapse. These transmitters attach to the receptors on the other side, once attached a signal transduction pathway occurs.
Signal transduction has multiple end goals. Protein synthesis, gated ion channel control, sodium potassium pump initiation or controlled cell death.
There are many neurotransmitters and each has a specific receptor, the vesicles have an affinity for all neurotransmitters. A neurotransmitter will not work if the receptor is blocked or absent. Neurotransmitters don’t dissipate necessarily but are reuptaken into the synapse cleft.
I think what helped me was understanding a signal transduction pathway. An example could be charging your cell phone for instance.
You see (stimulus) 15% -> your hand grabs the charger (vesicles/neurotransmitter) > you plug the charger into the wall (vesicles membrane merges with cleft wall) > the electricity flows into the charger from the wall (neurotransmitter release into synapse) > your hand attaches the charger to the phone port (transmitter binds to receptor site) > phone recieves electricity (cleft deformation and uptake of neurotransmitter) > phone charges (response to stimulus)
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