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axon |
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axon) The anatomy and action of a nerve cell. The nerve cell or neuron consists of a cell body with the nucleus and projections called dendrites which pick up messages. An extension of the cell, the axon, connects one cell to the dendrites of the next. When a nerve cell is stimulated, waves of sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions carry an electrical impulse down the axon. Long threadlike extension of a nerve cell that conducts electrochemical impulses away from the cell body towards other nerve cells, or towards an effector organ such as a muscle. Axons terminate in synapses, junctions with other nerve cells, muscles, or glands. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| Myelin is stripped, axons (nerve fibers) have broken, and entire nerve cells have died. While experimenting on optic nerves in rats, Larry Benowitz of Children's Hospital in Boston and his colleagues discovered by accident that scratching or poking the lens in an animal's eye could prompt damaged neurons to regrow axons farther toward the brain than researchers had ever seen. Stem cells known as normal human neural progenitor (NHNP) cells develop into three types of brain cells: neurons, which receive and transmit electrical signals via axons and synapses; astrocytes, which manage neurons' surrounding environment; and oligodendrocytes, which produce myelin, the fatty sheath that insulates axons. |
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Axons
