What are neurons and how does the synapse work?
If your body were a big city, neurons would be like the cables that connect each building, allowing information to travel at full speed from one place to another. Neurons are a type of nerve cell, and their mission is to process and transmit information throughout your body. They are the key building blocks of the nervous system.
These special cells are like the bricks of your nervous system: they build and sustain everything that happens in your brain, spinal cord, and in the nerves that run through the rest of your body.
Where are neurons located?
Your brain (which includes the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brainstem) and your spinal cord are made up mainly of neurons. Although it may not seem like it, the cerebellum, which is a small part of the brain, holds approximately 80% of all the neurons in the human body. This area controls balance and coordination, like the conductor of an orchestra directing your movements.
Who discovered neurons?
At the end of the 19th century, two key scientists helped unravel the mystery of how the nervous system works:
- Santiago Ramón y Cajal, considered the father of modern neuroscience, was a Spanish researcher who observed and drew neurons with an impressive level of detail.
- Camillo Golgi, an Italian researcher, invented a staining technique that made it possible to see neurons under the microscope.
Both scientists debated whether neurons were connected in a network or were separate. Ramón y Cajal showed that they were separate and that they communicated with each other through points of contact, which today we know as synapses.
Are all neurons the same?
No. Neurons can have different shapes and functions depending on their location and what they need to do. Among the main types, we find:
- Sensory neurons: detect stimuli such as light, sound, or touch.
- Motor neurons: transmit commands from the brain to the muscles.
- Interneurons: connect neurons to one another. They are the most abundant and form complex networks to process information.
For example, the neurons in your skin warn you if something is very hot, while those in your optic nerve convert light into electrical signals that your brain interprets as images.
What does a neuron look like?
Although there are very different types of neurons, most share a basic structure:
- Cell body (soma): contains the nucleus and is the cell’s control center.
- Dendrites: branched extensions that receive signals from other neurons.
- Axon: a long extension that carries the signal to other cells.
- Terminal buttons: points where the axon connects with other neurons.
- Myelin sheath: covers some axons and allows the signal to travel faster.
- Synapse: the space through which information is transmitted from one neuron to another.
What is the synapse?
The synapse is the place where one neuron communicates with another. They do not touch directly: there is a small space between them called the synaptic cleft. When an electrical signal reaches the end of the axon, neurotransmitters are releasedâchemical substances that cross that space and activate the next neuron.
It’s like a pass in a team sport: one player throws it, another receives it, and the game continues.
Why is it important to know this?
Because everything you do, think, or feel happens thanks to neurons and their connections. Every time you learn something new, you create new synapses. Every time you repeat something, you strengthen a connection. And every time you face a challenge and overcome it, your brain changes.
That’s why it’s said that the brain is plastic: it can be shaped, adapted, and improved. If you know how it works, you can take better care of it, learn more effectively, and train it as if it were a muscle.