Synapse??

[Esash]

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Hi All,
I am newbie in this forum and to neurology. I have a basic doubt: Why is the synapse required? Please help me clear this doubt. Thanks in advance.

Esash

 

[neurologist]

Hi All,
I am newbie in this forum and to neurology. I have a basic doubt: Why is the synapse required? Please help me clear this doubt. Thanks in advance.

Esash

Interesting question. I'd suggest the reason is that an enormous degree of integration has to take place in an advanced nervous system in order to allow for the complex behaviors carried out by the organism.

Because of this, many (most, really) pathways are in fact multisynaptic, which allows for increased activation of multiple neural sources and targets and allows for broader and more efficient communication, activation and integration than if the model were "one stimulator/one responder."

If you think about how much integration has to be done throughout the CNS, and tried to use a single pathway for everything, you'd probably need a brain the size of Jupiter to accomodate all the neurons and axons. Multiple synapses (example: purkinje cells can have 100,000+ synapses per cell) make it possible for neurons to integrate information from many sources in order to optimize output. That's way more efficient than 100,000 separate direct pathways.