1.
An inhibitory
neurotransmitter will not bind to the ligand-gated ion channels in the post-synaptic
membrane. The effect would be that the following neuron or muscle cell woud not be
activated and therefore the action potential would stop at the pre-synaptic membrane.
2.
If a motor neuron is
damaged (e.g. the resting membrane potential is disrupted) then either the membrane
potential would polarize even more and the threshold of the voltage-gated ion channels
would not be easily reached, causing the inability to move muscles, muscle paralysis.
If the resting potential was too high, residing over the threshold, there would be
uncontrolled action potentials pulsing from the motor nueron and the muscle cells would
uncontrollably contract. A less severe effect is that it would be easier to fire off an
action potential if the resting membrane potential depolarized only a little bit and
still resided lower than the threshold.
Source: Campbell
Biology Seventh Edition AP Edition
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