Neurons
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Last updated over 5 years ago
12 questions

Communication Between Neurons
Neurons communicate with each other at specialized junctions called synapses. Synapses are also found at junctions between neurons and other cells such as muscle cells (see below).
There are two types of synapses:
- Chemical synapses use chemical signaling molecules as messengers. We are focusing on this type of synapse.
- Electrical synapses use ions as messengers.
At a chemical synapse, the axon terminal of one neuron usually does not touch the other cell; the gap is called a synaptic cleft. The transmitting cell is called the presynaptic neuron, and the receiving cell is called the postsynaptic cell or, if it is another neuron, the postsynaptic neuron.



