Question

Explain in your own words, and from an engineering perspective, why signals are transmitted via chemical synapses? (Incorporate in your answer the fact that signals are not transmitted until a threshold value of polarization is reached).

Answer 1

• The electrical signal cannot “jump” over that gap. Instead, at the point of synaptic junction between two neurons, the electrical signal is “translated” into a chemical message (the neurotransmitter) by the presynaptic neuron (at the presynaptic terminal) – Step 1 & 2.
• That chemical diffuses (“swims”) across the synaptic cleft until it reaches the other neuron – Step 2 & 3.
• The other neuron then “translates” the chemical signal back into an electrical one – Step 3 & 4.
• The chemical message is degraded – Step 5