"CROSSING the GAP"

Micro-electric signals arriving at the terminal, stimulate the release of tiny amounts of potent chemicals that cross the gap to stimulate selected neighbouring cells into producing a further electric impulse. It is at this junction that the message may be modulated.

Neuromodulators may filter, inhibit, amplify, edit or integrate; adding precise directions to the flow of information.

Like a meteor shower across the face of a planet a volley of neurotransmitters, released from a dendrite's terminal, sweep across the synaptic cleft to carry their bio-electrical messages into receptors embedded in the membrane of the receiving nerve cell.

Microseconds later, the synaptic gap will be swept clean by specialist enzymes, readying the system for the next impulse.

Its potential difference switched by the Sodium Ions replacing ejected Potassium Ions, a receptor accepts only those neurotransmitters that are 'keyed' to fit.



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