How saltatory conduction works
- Action potentials occur only at the nodes of Ranvier, where channel proteins and carrier proteins are concentrated.
- This is because the myelin sheath acts as an insulator, preventing changes in membrane potential across the parts of the axon membrane surrounded by it. Thus, action potentials cannot in sheathed areas.
- Local circuits exist from one node to the next.
- In myelinated axons, saltatory conduction can increase the speed of transmission by up to 50 times that in an unmyelinated axon of the same diameter.
- The action potential therefore "jumps" from one node to the next, traveling much faster than in an unmyelinated axon.
