THe electrical properties of the neuron

NOVEMBER 1, 2019
Swaroop r nayaka
4SN16ME135
 THe electrical properties of the neuron

Introduction
In neurons, information is carried from one part of the cell to another in the form of
action potentials—large and rapidly reversible fluctuations in electrical voltage across the
plasma membrane that propagate along the axon. Different neurons exhibit different patterns
of action potential firing. Some neurons are normally silent; their membrane potential
remains at the resting potential unless the firing of action potentials is triggered by some
external stimulus, and they return to their non-firing state when the stimulus is no longer
present. Many neurons exhibit more complex endogenous electrical activity, often firing
action potentials in a regular pattern without an external stimulus. The electrical properties of
a neuron are subject to modulation by input from the environment, including sensory
information from the outside world, hormones released from other parts of the organism, and
chemical and electrical signals from other neurons to which the neuron is functionally
connected.

Neurons send messages electrochemically. This means that chemicals cause an

electrical signal. Chemicals in the body are "electrically-charged" -- when they have an
electrical charge, they are called ions. The important ions in the nervous system are sodium
and potassium (both have 1 positive charge, +), calcium (has 2 positive charges, ++) and
chloride (has a negative charge, -). There are also some negatively charged protein molecules.
It is also important to remember that nerve cells are surrounded by a membrane that allows
some ions to pass through and blocks the passage of other ions. This type of membrane is
called semi-permeable.

The Structure of the Neuron

Basic Nomenclature
There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the human brain (Williams & Herrup,
1988). Each neuron has three main components: dendrites, the soma, and the
axon. Dendrites are processes that extend outward from the soma, or cell body, of a neuron
and typically branch several times. Dendrites receive information from thousands of other
neurons and are the main source of input of the neuron. The nucleus, which is located within
the soma, contains genetic information, directs protein synthesis, and supplies the energy and
the resources the neuron needs to function. The main source of output of the neuron is
the axon. The axon is a process that extends far away from the soma and carries an important
signal called an action potential to another neuron. The place at which the axon of one neuron
comes in close contact to the dendrite of another neuron is a synapse (see Figures 1-2).
Typically, the axon of a neuron is covered with an insulating substance called a myelin
sheath that allows the signal and communication of one neuron to travel rapidly to another
neuron.

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 THe electrical properties of the neuron

The axon splits many times, Figure number:

so that it can1communicate, or synapse, with several
other neurons (see Figure 1). At the end of the axon is a terminal button, which forms
synapses with spines, or protrusions, on the dendrites of neurons. Synapsesform between
the presynaptic terminal button (neuron sending the signal) and the postsynaptic membrane
(neuron receiving the signal; see Figure 2). Here we will focus specifically on synapses
between the terminal button of an axon and a dendritic spine; however, synapses can also
form between the terminal button of an axon and the soma or the axon of another neuron.

A very small space called a synaptic gap or a synaptic cleft, approximately 5 nm

(nanometres), exists between the presynaptic terminal button and the postsynaptic dendritic
spine. To give you a better idea of the size, a dime is 1.35 mm (millimetre) thick. There are
1,350,000 nm in the thickness of a dime. In the presynaptic terminal button, there
are synaptic vesicles that package together groups of chemicals
called neurotransmitters (see Figure 2). Neurotransmitters are released from the presynaptic
terminal button, travel across the synaptic gap, and activate ion channels on the postsynaptic
spine by binding to receptor sites.

Types of Cells in the Brain.

Not all neurons are created equal! There are neurons that help us receive information
about the world around us, sensory neurons. There are motor neurons that allow us to initiate
movement and behaviour, ultimately allowing us to interact with the world around us.
Finally, there are interneurons, which process the sensory input from our environment into
meaningful representations, plan the appropriate behavioural response, and connect to the
motor neurons to execute these behavioural plans.

There are three main categories of neurons, each defined by its specific structure. The
structures of these three different types of neurons support their unique functions. Unipolar
neurons are structured in such a way that is ideal for relaying information forward, so they
have one neurite (axon) and no dendrites. They are involved in transmission of physiological
information from the body’s periphery such as communicating body temperature through the
spinal cord up to the brain. Bipolar neurons are involved in sensory perception such as
perception of light in the retina of the eye. They have one axon and one dendrite which help
acquire and pass sensory information to various centers in the brain. Finally, multipolar
neurons are the most common and they communicate sensory and motor information in the
brain. For example, their firing causes muscles in the body to contract. Multipolar neurons
have one axon and many dendrites which allows them to communicate with other
neurons. One of the most prominent neurons is a pyramidal neuron, which falls under the

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 THe electrical properties of the neuron

multipolar category. It gets its name from the triangular or pyramidal shape of its soma (for
examples see, Furtak, Moyer, & Brown, 2007).

Figure number 2: Characteristics of a synapse.

In addition to neurons, there is a second type of cell in the brain called glia cells. Glia
cells have several functions, just a few of which we will discuss here. One type of glia cell,
called oligodendroglia, forms the myelin sheaths mentioned above (Simons & Trotter, 2007;
see Fig. 2). Oligodendroglia wrap their dendritic processes around the axons of neurons many
times to form the myelin sheath. One cell will form the myelin sheath on several axons. Other
types of glia cells, such as microglia and astrocytes, digest debris of dead neurons, carry
nutritional support from blood vessels to the neurons, and help to regulate the ionic
composition of the extracellular fluid. While glial cells play a vital role in neuronal support,
they do not participate in the communication between cells in the same fashion as neurons do.

Communication Within and Between Neurons

Thus far, we have described the main characteristics of neurons, including how their
processes come in close contact with one another to form synapses. In this section, we
consider the conduction of communication within a neuron and how this signal is transmitted
to the next neuron. There are two stages of this electrochemical action in neurons. The first
stage is the electrical conduction of dendritic input to the initiation of an action potential
within a neuron. The second stage is a chemical transmission across the synaptic gap between
the presynaptic neuron and the postsynaptic neuron of the synapse. To understand these
processes, we first need to consider what occurs within a neuron when it is at a steady state,
called resting membrane potential.

Resting Membrane Potential

When a neuron is not sending a signal, it is "at rest." When a neuron is at rest, the
inside of the neuron is negative relative to the outside. Although the concentrations of the
different ions attempt to balance out on both sides of the membrane, they cannot because the

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 THe electrical properties of the neuron

cell membrane allows only some ions to pass through channels (ion channels). At rest,
potassium ions (K+) can cross through the membrane easily. Also at rest, chloride ions (Cl -)
and sodium ions (Na+) have a more difficult time crossing. The negatively charged protein
molecules (A-) inside the neuron cannot cross the membrane.

In addition to these selective ion channels, there is a pump that uses energy to move
three sodium ions out of the neuron for every two potassium ions it puts in. Finally, when all
these forces balance out, and the difference in the voltage between the inside and outside of
the neuron is measured, you have the resting potential. The resting membrane potential of a
neuron is about -70 mV (mV=millivolt) - this means that the inside of the neuron is 70 mV
less than the outside. At rest, there are relatively more sodium ions outside the neuron and
more potassium ions inside that neuron.

Two forces, diffusion and electrostatic pressure, act on the four groups of ions
mentioned above.
Anions (A-): Anions are highly concentrated inside the cell and contribute to the negative
charge of the resting membrane potential. Diffusion and electrostatic pressure are not forces
that determine A- concentration because A- is impermeable to the cell membrane. There are
no ion channels that allow for A- to move between the intracellular and extracellular fluid.
Potassium (K+): The cell membrane is very permeable to potassium at rest, but potassium
remains in high concentrations inside the cell. Diffusion pushes K+ outside the cell because it
is in high concentration inside the cell. However, electrostatic pressure pushes K+ inside the
cell because the positive charge of K+ is attracted to the negative charge inside the cell. In
combination, these forces oppose one another with respect to K+.
Chloride (Cl-): The cell membrane is also very permeable to chloride at rest, but chloride
remains in high concentration outside the cell. Diffusion pushes Cl- inside the cell because it
is in high concentration outside the cell. However, electrostatic pressure pushes Cl- outside
the cell because the negative charge of Cl- is attracted to the positive charge outside the cell.
Similar to K+, these forces oppose one another with respect to Cl-.
Sodium (Na+): The cell membrane is not very permeable to sodium at rest. Diffusion pushes
Na+ inside the cell because it is in high concentration outside the cell. Electrostatic pressure
also pushes Na+ inside the cell because the positive charge of Na+ is attracted to the negative
charge inside the cell. Both of these forces push Na+ inside the cell; however, Na+ cannot
permeate the cell membrane and remains in high concentration outside the cell. The small
amounts of Na+ inside the cell are removed by a sodium-potassium pump, which uses the
neuron’s energy (adenosine triphosphate, ATP) to pump 3 Na+ ions out of the cell in
exchange for bringing 2 K+ ions inside the cell.

Action Potential

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The resting potential tells about what happens when a neuron is at rest. An action
potential occurs when a neuron sends information down an axon, away from the cell body.
Neuroscientists use other words, such as a "spike" or an "impulse" for the action potential.
The action potential is an explosion of electrical activity that is created by a depolarizing
current. This means that some event (a stimulus) causes the resting potential to move toward
0 mV. When the depolarization reaches about -55 mV a neuron will fire an action potential.
This is the threshold. If the neuron does not reach this critical threshold level, then no action
potential will fire. Also, when the threshold level is reached, an action potential of a fixed
sized will always fire...for any given neuron, the size of the action potential is always the
same. There are no big or small action potentials in one nerve cell - all action potentials are
the same size. Therefore, the neuron either does not reach the threshold or a full action
potential is fired - this is the "ALL OR NONE" principle.

Action potentials are caused when different ions cross the neuron membrane. A
stimulus first causes sodium channels to open. Because there are many more sodium ions on
the outside, and the inside of the neuron is negative relative to the outside, sodium ions rush
into the neuron. Remember, sodium has a positive charge, so the neuron becomes more
positive and becomes depolarized. It takes longer for potassium channels to open. When they
do open, potassium rushes out of the cell, reversing the depolarization. Also at about this
time, sodium channels start to close. This causes the action potential to go back toward -70
mV (a repolarization). The action potential actually goes past -70 mV (a hyperpolarization)
because the potassium channels stay open a bit too long. Gradually, the ion concentrations go
back to resting levels and the cell returns to -70 mV.

Voltage
Voltage, electric potential difference, electric pressure or electric tension is the
difference in electric potential between two points. The difference in electric potential
between two points (i.e., voltage) in a static electric field is defined as the work needed
per unit of charge to move a test charge between the two points. In the International System
of Units, the derived unit for voltage is named volt. In SI units, work per unit charge is
expressed as joules per coulomb, where 1 volt = 1 joule (of work) per 1 coulomb (of charge).
The official SI definition for volt uses power and current, where 1 volt = 1 watt (of power)
per 1 ampere (of current).This definition is equivalent to the more commonly used 'joules per
coulomb'. Voltage or electric potential difference is denoted symbolically by ∆V, but more
often simply as V, for instance in the context of Ohm's or Kirchhoff's circuit laws.

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 THe electrical properties of the neuron

Membrane potential
Membrane potential (also transmembrane potential or membrane voltage) is the
difference in electric potential between the interior and the exterior of a biological cell. With
respect to the exterior of the cell, typical values of membrane potential, normally given in
units of millivolts and denoted as mV, ranges from –40 mV to –80 mV.

All animal cells are surrounded by a membrane composed of a lipid

bilayer with proteins embedded in it. The membrane serves as both an insulator and a
diffusion barrier to the movement of ions. Transmembrane proteins, also known as ion
transporter or ion pump proteins, actively push ions across the membrane and establish
concentration gradients across the membrane, and ion channels allow ions to move across the
membrane down those concentration gradients. Ion pumps and ion channels are electrically
equivalent to a set of batteries and resistors inserted in the membrane, and therefore create a
voltage between the two sides of the membrane.

Almost all plasma membranes have an electrical potential across them, with the inside
usually negative with respect to the outside. The membrane potential has two basic functions.
First, it allows a cell to function as a battery, providing power to operate a variety of
"molecular devices" embedded in the membrane. Second, in electrically excitable cells such
as neurons and muscle cells, it is used for transmitting signals between different parts of a
cell. Signals are generated by opening or closing of ion channels at one point in the
membrane, producing a local change in the membrane potential. This change in the electric
field can be quickly affected by either adjacent or more distant ion channels in the membrane.
Those ion channels can then open or close as a result of the potential change, reproducing the
signal.

In non-excitable cells, and in excitable cells in their baseline states, the membrane
potential is held at a relatively stable value, called the resting potential. For neurons, typical
values of the resting potential range from –70 to –80 millivolts; that is, the interior of a cell
has a negative baseline voltage of a bit less than one-tenth of a volt. The opening and closing
of ion channels can induce a departure from the resting potential. This is called
a depolarization if the interior voltage becomes less negative (say from –70 mV to –60 mV),
or a hyperpolarization if the interior voltage becomes more negative (say from –70 mV to –
80 mV). In excitable cells, a sufficiently large depolarization can evoke an action potential, in
which the membrane potential changes rapidly and significantly for a short time (on the order
of 1 to 100 milliseconds), often reversing its polarity. Action potentials are generated by the
activation of certain voltage-gated ion channels.

In neurons, the factors that influence the membrane potential are diverse. They
include numerous types of ion channels, some of which are chemically gated and some of
which are voltage-gated. Because voltage-gated ion channels are controlled by the membrane
potential, while the membrane potential itself is influenced by these same ion channels,
feedback loops that allow for complex temporal dynamics arise, including oscillations and
regenerative events such as action potentials.

Areas of Application
Followings are some of the areas, where ANN is being used. It suggests that ANN has
an interdisciplinary approach in its development and applications
.
Speech Recognition

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 THe electrical properties of the neuron

Speech occupies a prominent role in human-human interaction. Therefore, it is natural

for people to expect speech interfaces with computers. In the present era, for communication
with machines, humans still need sophisticated languages which are difficult to learn and use.
To ease this communication barrier, a simple solution could be, communication in a spoken
language that is possible for the machine to understand.

Great progress has been made in this field, however, still such kinds of systems are
facing the problem of limited vocabulary or grammar along with the issue of retraining of the
system for different speakers in different conditions. ANN is playing a major role in this area.
Following ANNs have been used for speech recognition −
 Multilayer networks
 Multilayer networks with recurrent connections
 Kohonen self-organizing feature map
The most useful network for this is Kohonen Self-Organizing feature map, which has
its input as short segments of the speech waveform. It will map the same kind of phonemes as
the output array, called feature extraction technique. After extracting the features, with the
help of some acoustic models as back-end processing, it will recognize the utterance.

Character Recognition
It is an interesting problem which falls under the general area of Pattern Recognition.
Many neural networks have been developed for automatic recognition of handwritten
characters, either letters or digits. Following are some ANNs which have been used for
character recognition −
 Multilayer neural networks such as Back propagation neural networks.
 Neocognitron
Though back-propagation neural networks have several hidden layers, the pattern of
connection from one layer to the next is localized. Similarly, neocognitron also has several
hidden layers and its training is done layer by layer for such kind of applications.

Signature Verification Application

Signatures are one of the most useful ways to authorize and authenticate a person in
legal transactions. Signature verification technique is a non-vision based technique.

For this application, the first approach is to extract the feature or rather the
geometrical feature set representing the signature. With these feature sets, we have to train
the neural networks using an efficient neural network algorithm. This trained neural network
will classify the signature as being genuine or forged under the verification stage.

References

Electrical Properties of Neurons - Oxford Medicine

Neuroscience For Kids - action potential
Membrane potential - Wikipedia
Neurons | Noba
Action potentials and synapses - Queensland Brain Institute - University of Queensland
Introduction to Neural Networks, Advantages and Applications
Applications of Neural Networks - Tutorialspoint

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