going before another in time or order I'd like to follow up on an antecedent question from another reporter Synonyms previous, anterior, foregoing, former, precedent, preceding, priorRelated Words advance, early, premature; earliest, first, inaugural, initial, maiden, original, pioneer; preexisting; introductory, preliminary; erstwhile, whilomNear ...
Neurotransmitters are formed in a presynaptic neuron and stored in small membrane-bound sacks, called vesicles, inside this neuron. When this neuron is activated, these intracellular vesicles fuse with the cell membrane and release their contents into the synapse, a process called exocytosis.
The synapse is a small gap separating neurons. The synapse consists of: a presynaptic ending that contains neurotransmitters, mitochondria and other cell organelles, a postsynaptic ending that contains receptor sites for neurotransmitters and, a synaptic cleft or space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic endings. It is about 20nm wide. An action potential cannot cross the synaptic cleft between neurones. Instead the nerve impulse is carried by chemicals called neurotransmitters. These chemicals are made by the cell that is sending the impulse (the pre-synaptic neurone) and stored in synaptic vesicles at the end of the axon.