Which of the following best characterizes an axon?

[khadcheemz]

1.) It transmits information from the cell body to the axon terminals
or
2.) It releases neurotransmitter at the synaptic cleft

I would say 2 because doesn't information come to the dendrites before the cell body?

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[apicalforamen]

Number 1. You are correct in your last statement, but that has nothing to do with your question.

 

[willwash]

I would say #2 is just as correct and relevant as #1 if not moreso. That's a really tough question.

 

[arkenstone]

It's semantics. Synaptic vesicles release neurotransmitters at the cleft.

In other words, what is the "it" in both statements referring to?
Statement 1 'it' characterizes the whole axon. Statement 2 'it' characterizes a part of the axon.

 

[Cello]

#1 is correct because it describes what an axon is.
#2 is incorrect because it describes the activity of the synaptic vesicles which transport neurotransmitter across the synaptic cleft.

EDIT: @arkenstone beat me to it.

 

[arkenstone]

EDIT: @arkenstone beat me to it.

It's not a race........is the biggest lie ever.

It's always a race.

 

[khadcheemz]

Ohh now I understand! Thank you guys! ))

 

[OrphanageCaretaker]

1.) It transmits information from the cell body to the axon terminals
or
2.) It releases neurotransmitter at the synaptic cleft

I would say 2 because doesn't information come to the dendrites before the cell body?

The axon does the "outputting" aka sending out the signal which will reach the adjacent neuron's dendrite.

Whenever the voltage gated sodium channels are opened in the axon, it flows to the axon terminal, and over there, the voltage gated calcium channels will reach their threshold of about -50 to -55mV, then, the calcium channels will trigger vesicles to stimulate and attach onto the terminal's membrane. When the vesicles attach to the membrane, this causes the membranes to fuse and the release of chemicals which are ligands for chemically gated sodium channels in dendrites such as nor-epinephrine or acetyl-choline. So the "more" correct answer would be number 1, number 2 would be correct if your question was, "Which of the following best characterizes an axon terminal?"

 

[enghia]

silly question. synaptic vescicles being part of the axon still means the axon released neurotransmitter. it's the same reason we say "I farted" instead of "my anus farted"