Although the monks now knew about the structure of the neuron and I had mentioned that a neuron sent signals using electrical and chemical signals, we had not yet discussed neurotransmission. On Monday morning we quickly reviewed the parts of a neuron and I started in on the resting potential and the action potential.
Before I arrived in India, another instructor had taught a bit about chemistry and physics. This was great because the monks had an idea about an ion. I explained how a potential difference was set up between the inside and outside of a neuron and how sodium and potassium ions and channels work to generate an electrical signal. I think the monks understood these concepts because when I illustrated how some neurotoxins work by blocking sodium channels (tetrodotoxin) or potassium channels (some scorpion toxins), they predicted correctly how the action potential would change.
Many of the monks are also teachers so we did a simple demonstration by making each of them neurons. One arm was a dendrite, their body was a cell body, the other arm was an axon and the hand was a synaptic terminal. They raced a "message" down the chain of "monk neurons" by squeezing the shoulder or hand of the person next to each other. We also passed small washers to illustrate neurotransmitters.
Next up, the senses, starting with vision.
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