Neurons

And we are back for the week with a complete new topic that I’m hoping will not bore you all. This week’s topic is... Neurons and their function!

So first question, what is a neuron? Well it is actually a cell that receives information and transmits it to other cells throughout our body. What makes neurons super cool is that there are approximately 100 billion of them in our brain! Even though, there’s billions of them and you’d think that they all look the same, guess what!? They don’t! Neurons vary enormously in size, shape and function. I’ll be talking more in depth about these differences later. There is actually two types of neurons; motor and sensory neurons. Motor neurons have their soma in the spinal cord (Which you can see in the first image). They receive excitation and conduct impulses along their axon to other organs which is why they are efferent from the nervous system. We also have the sensory neurons which are afferent to the rest of the nervous system.

Large neurons have dendrites, a soma, an axon, and presynaptic terminals while smaller neurons may lack an axon and well defined dendrites.

Dendrites are branching fibers that receive information from other neurons. The soma which is the cell body contains the nucleus, ribosomes, and mitochondria; this is actually where most of the metabolic work takes place. We then have the axon, which is the information sender to other neurons, organs, and muscles. Humans actually have axons running from our spinal cord to our feet. Something I find to be fascinating is the fact that axons can actually be a meter or even longer!

On the following image you can see the differences between a motor neuron and a sensory  neuron.

Information is sent from neuron to neuron through synapses, which is basically impulses. Interesting enough neurons never physically touch to exchange information. Information is actually exchanged

through a presynaptic terminal. In the following image you can see the events occurring at a synapse. 

As I mentioned earlier there is a variety of shapes of neurons. A lot of the times it is this diversity that determines the function of the cells and their contribution to the nervous system. The following is an image of the different shaped neurons that can be found throughout our bodies. For example the Pukinje cell (which you can see in the image below) can only be found in the cerebellum and are responsible for most of the electrochemical signaling in the cerebellum. 

Minimalist vs. Abolitionist: What's your take?

Today’s topic: (drum set please) Animal Research: Minimalist vs. Abolitionist! I know, I know this is a very controversial topic; people tend to be either 100% for it or completely against it, and there’s usually no middle ground in this subject, but I think this topic will really get us talking today.

 There’s actually two degrees of opposition which are the following: Minimalist and Abolitionist. Minimalist tends to believe that Animal experimentation can be useful up to certain extent and under specific regulations, on the other hand we have the Abolitionist (TUN, TUN TUN!!) I don’t know about you all but I happen to find the name itself a bit intimidating. Any who, who are the abolitionist and what’s their take on animal experimentation, you may wonder... Well Abolitionist are the complete opposite of the Minimalist, they think that animals should have the same rights as humans do, thus there should be absolutely no animal experimentation what so ever.  So… Which do you consider yourself to be?

These two groups can be quite extreme when it comes to getting their points across. For example it has been known that groups of abolitionists have vandalized laboratories, and have even gone to the extent of placing bombs under researcher’s car. Ironic don’t you think? Yeah let’s save animal’s lives by murdering the people who conduct experiments on them.

This ad represents a reply by supporters of animal research.

 

Many medical advances would not have taken place, if it had not been for animal testing. Many people think that animal testing is the base for research, and it simply isn’t. Animal research is only used to address specific questions that cannot be addressed any other way but through experimentation.

I, a Minimalist, personally believe that animal experimentation can be very helpful when it comes to finding cures. Thanks to those researches conducted, vaccines for smallpox, polio, etc. have been found. And yes I totally understand and agree on how it may not be fair because animals can’t speak for themselves and it may seem cruel, but understand that that is the only way we can address research questions. Just imagine if an animal testing were to be banned completely, the pace of medical research would hit a complete stop. In addition, in an attempt to decrease animal cruelty throughout an experiment, many of the animal research today is done under strict legal and ethical control.