Nerve impulse

A nervous impulse is an electric signal that transmits messages between the different parts of the body. Nerve impulses are mostly electrical signals along the dendrites to produce a nerve impulse or action potential. This electric signal produced by a neuron when stimulated. This signal is then transmitted by synapses, or connections between the cells.

The transmission of a nerve impulse along a neuron from one end to the other occurs as a result of electrical changes across the membrane of the neuron.

Nerve impulses are critical because they are required for neurons to send information about senses, movement, thinking and feeling to other cell types in the neural circuitry. And an impulse is not fired up just once; it is initiated and then must be repeatedly transmitted along axons.

This signal is relayed along the axon of the nerve cell, bringing a message that instructs an effector to act. For instance, in neuromuscular junction, the nerve impulse moves along the axon of a nerve cell to instruct a muscle cell to contract.

The place where an axon terminal meets another cell is called a synapse. This is where the transmission of a nerve impulse to another cell occurs. The cell that sends the nerve impulse is called the presynaptic cell, and the cell that receives the nerve impulse is called the postsynaptic cell.

There are two types of nervous impulses.
*The first pass from the skin’s receptors or from internal organs to the brain and relay information from the brain to the muscles and glands.
*The others transmit information between two types of neurons.
Nerve impulse