Major Depressive Disorder Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Major Depressive Disorder - Assignment Example All messages, from one neuron to another, transmit through electrical impulses and move in one direction. While impulses emerging from the dendrites, they transmit to the cell body, further to the axon and then to adjacent neurons. Dendrites then notice messages from other neurons and carries signals forward. Axons are insulated by a myelin sheath made up of protein and fat essentially to prevent the short circuiting of messages (Kandel et al., 2000).The space between two neurons called synapse is filled with chemical called neurotransmitters. When an impulse reaches to a terminal button via axon, the terminal button releases a chemical known as neurotransmitter. Thus, neurotransmitters act as a carrier taking messages to a dendrite of a receiving neuron across the synapse. That means within a neuron messages transmit through electrical impulses while between the neurons communication takes place through a chemical mode. It is important to note that not all neurons receive the chemic al mode of communication and different kinds of neurotransmitter differ in their ability to fit at receptor site of neuron. That means communication can take place only when a neurotransmitter fits into a receptor site perfectly. When the message received by the neuron is of excitatory type then neuron fires from its resting state. Thus neurotransmitter is an important link between the person's nervous system and his or her behavior (Kandel et al., 2000). Different kinds of neurons conduct specialized jobs and the mirror neurons are one of them.