Chapter 2 - The Formation and Structure of Synapses

Abstract

The ability of neurons to send signals to one another is crucial for the function of the nervous system, but early scientists had no way of knowing how communication from one neuron to another occurred. We now take for granted that synapses exist between neurons, but before this could be verified using the advanced experimental techniques available relatively recently, there was debate among early neuroscientists about whether this was true. Some scientists proposed that neurons were contiguous with one another, much like capillaries in the body, while others concluded that neurons were in fact separate cells. This latter concept was called the Neuron Doctrine, which we now know to be correct. The junctions between neurons were given the name “synapse,” and the study of synapses has revealed ultrastructural details of synaptic structure as well as an understanding of how the nervous system assembles synapses during nervous system development.