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Synapse

A synapse is a specialized junction between neurons that receive chemical or electrical signals [neurotransmitters] released by dendritic spines, across a gap called a "synaptic cleft." When a neuron receives action potential it travels down the axon to its end [axon terminal] to signal the release of neurotransmitters stored in vesicles there, to be transmitted by diffusion across the synaptic cleft to a neighboring neuron. The action potential produces calcium ions that enter the neuron through calcium channels on the membrane, and these ions trigger the biochemical cascade which triggers release of specific neurotransmitters. The released neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the membrane of the neighboring neuron, and these change voltage at the receptor sites to transmit the action potential.

An electrical synapse conducts electrical or mechanical signals between neurons through a narrow gap between pre and postsynaptic cells known as a gap junction. Gap junction gaps are much smaller than the synaptic cleft gaps crossed by chemical neurotransmitters. Electrical synapse activity is thus much faster and more reliable than chemical synapses. While there are both chemical and electrical synapses allowing transmission between neurons throughout the CNS, there are fewer electrical synapses than chemical ones.

Web Resources On Synapse

Synapses
Synapses: Boston University

Book Resources On Synapse

Oxford Companion to the Mind by O.L. Zangwill (Author), Richard L. Gregory (Ed.).
The Human Brain: An Introduction to Its Functional Anatomy by John Nolte
Excitatory-Inhibitory Balance: Synapses, Circuits, Systems by Takao K. Hensch, Michela Fagiolini (Eds.).

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