from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Situated behind or occurring after a synapse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective cytology in a synapse, of or pertaining to the neuron that bears receptors for neurotransmitter released into the synaptic cleft by the presynaptic neuron
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
post- + synaptic.
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Examples
This region is known as the postsynaptic density (PSD).
The postsynaptic receptors become supersensitive to neurotransmitter effects and may be related to an increase in the number of alpha and beta receptors. 4 This may occur in compensation for chronic cocaine use when norepinephrine becomes depleted. 4
Direct-acting pressors have their action extracellularly at postsynaptic receptors. 4 The evaluation of liver function at initial presentation andfour tosix weeks following recovery is recommended, although the incidence of hepatotoxicity following acute overdose is rare. 5 Caution should be exercised in the use of sedative/hypnotics for CNS excitation because of synergistic depressant effects during overdose.
After the impulse has again been initiated, the neurotransmitter-complex must be inactivated otherwise impulses (above and beyond the original impulse) will continue and can exhaust the postsynaptic event causing muscle paralysis, for example.
Generally, neurotoxins affecting neurotransmission act to increase or decrease the release of a neurotransmitter at the presynaptic membrane, block receptors at the postsynaptic membrane, or modify the inactivation process of the neurotransmitter.
Following binding of the neurotransmitter with a receptor, the postsynaptic membrane depolarizes which results in the generation of an impulse on the next neuron or the effector cell, e.g., muscle cell or secretory cell.
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