Hello everyone! This is going to be a rather interesting post. As you know, the “Y” in CY CHRIST stands for youth, which means most of us here are students. In all my classes I strive to apply as much of my learning to my work and vice versa. For one of my classes I was asked to post a discussion on a type of cell in the body and a few organelles within that cell. I wanted to keep it related to my work and something I have studied a great deal of is the neurobiology of trauma -that is- how trauma affects the cognitive and physical functions of people after a traumatic experience. The amygdala plays a key part in the process as its main job is to sense danger and alert us to that danger. I wanted to go down to the cellular level of the amygdala and study how these cells and organelles play a part in the process.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a neuroscientist, and really have no authority in this field. I wanted to post this purely as informational and I encourage you to research for yourself and comment on any information that you find.
The Pyramidal Cell
I want to look at a specific type of neuron in the amygdala called a pyramidal cell. It’s a type of multipolar neuron, which means it has multiple connections with other neurons as opposed to unipolar or bipolar (one or two other connections). The reason it’s called a pyramidal cell is that its center, also called a “Soma,” looks like a pyramid and has many dendrites or branches coming off of it as seen in figure 1.
![](https://i0.wp.com/cychrist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GolgiStainedPyramidalCell.jpg?resize=409%2C272&ssl=1)
They are the primary means of communication and excite the prefrontal cortex and corticospinal tract, preparing us to either freeze, flight, or fight in response to a dangerous situation. Pyramidal neurons also play a role in cognitive functions, for instance, it appears that the neurons can process input from the primary auditory cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and primary visual cortex. These cells may also play a role in recognizing objects in the visual processing areas of the brain. All this information means that these cells process data about potential danger and transmit this information to the amygdala to decide what to do! Danger Will Robinson! (Am I too old to say that?)
Three Organelles Essential to Pyramidal Cells
Now let’s go down to the organelle level. We’ll discuss three major organelles that are found not only in pyramidal cells but in all neurons. The first are synaptic vesicles. These are small spherical or elliptical organelles within the cytoplasm of the neurons. They contain proteins necessary for neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that give signals to the neurons, they also have inhibitors that block those signals. Pyramidal cells, are excited or turned on by the neurotransmitter glutamate and are inhibited or blocked by gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA). These vesicles have two different shapes depending on whether or not they contain neurotransmitter inhibitors or the excitatory neurotransmitter. The former are often flat or elliptical in shape, the latter are more spherical.
![](https://i0.wp.com/cychrist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Unknown-1.jpeg?resize=225%2C225&ssl=1)
The second and third organelle I want to talk about has to do with receptors and ion channels. Now as a quick disclaimer, this area is still actively being researched and there are many hypotheses as to the exact nature of these organelles.
The Presynaptic Density is a region of the cell that has a darkly stained material where the presynaptic membrane and the synaptic vesicles are hypothesized to dock to each other. The Postsynaptic Density is also made of darkly stained material that -as is in the name- post the synapse. Even smaller complexes such as receptors, ion channels, and other signaling molecules are likely bound to this material. These organelles are important in letting neurotransmitters or inhibitors pass through them and to their ultimate destination, through the pyramidal cells and to the amygdala.
![](https://i0.wp.com/cychrist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/fnsyn-08-00023-g001.jpg.gif?resize=600%2C589&ssl=1)
Summary
There is still much to be discovered in this realm especially as it relates to trauma and its effect on people. The Amygdala does do its best to help us survive in dangerous situations, and that’s thanks to the pyramidal cell that receives and sends information on the environment, and its smaller organelles like the synaptic vesicles that determine when to excite us or to relieve us; and the pre and postsynaptic density that contains the receptors and ion channels necessary to let those neurotransmitters pass through.
Thanks for reading! Please let me know if I have missed something in my research. I’ll do my best to answer any questions you have. It took a great deal of digging to find this information and I am interested in learning more.
The first link is a brief video on the Neurobiology of Trauma.
The next are some of the places where I obtained my information.
https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s1/chapter08.html#plasmalemma
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4571506/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0940960202800425
I think other web site proprietors should take this site as an model, very clean and great user genial style and design, let alone the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
Hey! This post could not be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing excellent informations. Your web site is very cool. I’m impressed by the details that you抳e on this blog. It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found simply the information I already searched everywhere and just could not come across. What an ideal web site.
Thanks so much for viewing our site. We hope the information helps you. Please feel free to share with others!
We appreciate you so much.
Respectfully,
CY CHRIST team
Greetings from Florida! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break. I love the information you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, amazing blog!
Hello! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird when viewing from my apple iphone. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to correct this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share. Thank you!
Hello! We don’t mind the off-topic question, it’s a good one! Unfortunately, I have no idea how to make it more mobile-friendly. There are still many things with our website that I would like to be more smooth. It’s just a lot of trial and error. Sorry we can’t be more helpful.
Respectfully,
CY CHRIST team
I together with my pals ended up analyzing the excellent procedures on your site and before long I had a terrible feeling I never thanked the blog owner for those strategies. These people were definitely as a result very interested to see them and already have pretty much been taking advantage of those things. Appreciate your being really helpful and for figuring out these kinds of exceptional subjects most people are really wanting to understand about. My personal sincere apologies for not expressing gratitude to earlier.
Thanks so much for checking our site out!
We appreciate your comments. Feel free to keep reading and sharing our posts.
Respectfully,
CY CHRIST team
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I’m very glad to see such magnificent info being shared freely out there.