Neuromuscular transmission
Neuromuscular junction (NMJ) The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a specialised synapse between motor neurones and skeletal muscle, which enables nervous control of skeletal muscle contraction. At the NMJ, the neurone…
Autonomic nervous system
The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary actions such as breathing, the regulation of cardiac contractions, blood pressure control, gastrointestinal secretions and motility, control of pupil diameter, sweating, bladder control and…
Synaptic transmission
Nervous activity involves the spread of electrical charge via the generation and propagation of action potentials. Communication between neurones is predominantly via chemical transmission at synapses, in which an impulse…
Nervous conduction
Extracellular [K+] essentially determines resting membrane potential (Vm) and ensures that excitation occurs at an appropriate time (Chapter 18). Excitation forms the basis of nervous conduction and also ensures the…
Medical genetics
Genetic disease is a common cause of illness and even death. Approximately 3% of babies are affected by a genetic disease. Genetic diseases can be considered to be caused by…
Gene expression
Gene sequences occupy only about 2% of the human genome. Following the successful genome project that enabled the sequence of bases in the human genome (3 billion) to be elucidated,…
DNA and RNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) DNA is the hereditary material in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. It consists of four nitrogenous bases, adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T), attached to…
Principles of molecular genetics
Prior to the development of molecular genetic techniques our understanding of genetic disease and potential treatments was based on the analysis of pedigrees and studying abnormal proteins. The knowledge gained…
Amino acid metabolism
Amino acid synthesis Of the 20 amino acids needed for protein synthesis, humans are only able to make 11. These are termed the non-essential amino acids and are made by…
Glucose metabolism
Approximately 55% of the energy needs of the average human are met by the metabolism of carbohydrates, of which the major component is glucose. The glucose concentration in the blood…
