axon
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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.
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