Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system. They send and receive information all over the body using both chemical and electrical signals. Even if they look very complicated, their structure is actually very simple. In fact, the neuron is broken up into 2 major regions:

A region for receiving and processing incoming information from other cells and a region for conducting and transmitting information to other cells. Also, the type of information that is received, processed and transmitted by a neuron depends on its location in the nervous system. There are three types of neurons:sensory, motor, and interneurons.

Interneurons relay signals between sensory neurons, and motor neurons.

Sensory neurons are nerve cells that are responsible for converting external stimuli from the organism’s environment into internal electrical impulses

Motor neurons are nerve cells that form part of a pathway along which impulses pass from the brain or spinal cord to a muscle or gland.

The basic purpose of a neuron is to receive incoming information and, based upon that information, send a signal to other neurons, muscles, or glands and they are designedto rapidly send signals across long distances.

The action potentialis a nerve impulse that travelling along an axon, changes the polarity across the membrane of the axon.In response to a signal from another neuron, sodium- (Na⁺) and potassium- (K⁺) gated ion channels open and close as the membrane reaches its threshold potential. Repolarization is when the membrane potential becomes more negative at a particular spot on the neuron’s membrane, while depolarization is when the membrane potential becomes less negative (more positive)

The synapse consists of three elements: The presynaptic membrane which is formed by the terminal button of an axon, the postsynaptic membrane which is composed of a segment of dendrite or cell body, and the space between these two structures which is called the synaptic cleft.

The function of the synapse is to transfer electric activity from one cell to another and the transfer can be from nerve to nerve, or nerve to muscle.  Dendrites receive signals from other neurons at specialized junctions called synapses. There is a small gap between two synapsed neurons, where neurotransmitters are released from one neuron to pass the signal to the next neuron.