action potential
1
5.2
- noun
- /ˈækʃən pəˈtɛnʃəl/
- Specialized
:
potencial de acción
- When a muscle cell is stimulated, an action potential causes it to contract.
- abnormal action potential
- action potential amplitude
- spontaneous action potentials
The neurons in our bodies conduct impulses or action potentials very much faster than those that you find in some fungal networks.
- The neurons in our bodies conduct impulses or action potentials very much faster than those that you find in some fungal networks.
- Because the action potential, the actual firing of neurons is driven by sodium entering the cell, rushing into the cell.
- I think we know, we know a lot about the basic chemistry, how neurons fire, neurotransmitters, action potentials, things like that.
Examples
-
Action potential electrogenesis in most mammalian neurons depends on the depolarizing actions of voltage-gated sodium channels.
Academic text (2000) -
The compound action potential (CAP) of the cochlea was recorded using an evoked potential system (BioLOGIC).
Academic text (1998) -
That action potential is initiated here up in this region.
-
So that region in turn becomes active and the action potential moves down the membrane and it can move at quite a high speed.
-
And you can see the action potentials by these dark lines here.
-
Because the action potential, the actual firing of neurons is driven by sodium entering the cell, rushing into the cell.
-
And that's just electrical transmission via action potentials, which you've learned a lot about.
-
The neurons in our bodies conduct impulses or action potentials very much faster than those that you find in some fungal networks.
-
Following injury to the nervous system, DRG neurons can become hyperexcitable, generating spontaneous action potentials or abnormal high-frequency activity that contributes to chronic pain.
Academic text (2000) -
In this study, it was shown that isolated cardiomyocytes from mice, cultured for 2 days with the Y strain of T. cruzi, exhibited an increased firing rate and reduced action potential duration without marked changes in maximum diastolic potential or action potential amplitude.
Academic text (2016)
Synonyms
1
4.9
An electrical signal that travels along a nerve to carry messages in the body
1
6.5
An electrical signal that travels along a nerve to send information
How Strong
- Specialized
1
5.2
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is partly compositional: 'potential' in its electrical sense plus 'action' (activity) point toward an electrical/physiological phenomenon, so learners who know the technical sense of 'potential' may infer a relation to electrical activity. However, the precise meaning—a rapid, transient change in membrane voltage used as a nerve/muscle signal—is specialized and not predictable from everyday senses of the words, so a B1 learner would likely not derive the full meaning without domain knowledge.
Etymology
Action potential comes from the idea that stored electrical potential suddenly becomes a short action that moves along a nerve cell like a wave. Imagine a row of dominoes where a small push makes a quick wave — this 'signal' 'travels' along the cell, so the phrase means a quick electrical signal that moves along nerves.