Image produced by BYU-Idaho Student Jared Cardinet 2013 These are essential for electrical insulation and to speed up action potential propagation. Myelin consists of totally separate cells that coil and wrap their membranes around the outside of the axon. This system can move materials down the axon at rates of 400mm/day (see lowest figure). Specialized motor proteins "walk" along the microtubules, carrying material away from the soma (anterograde transport) or back to the soma (retrograde transport). Microtubules are arranged inside the axon as parallel arrays of long strands that act as highways for the movement of materials to and from the soma. Because of this length, the axon contains microtubules and is surrounded by myelin. In contrast to the shorter dendrites, the axon can extend for more than a meter. Dendrites function to receive information, and do so through numerous receptors located in their membranes that bind to chemicals, called neurotransmitters.Īxon: An axon is a large process that extends from the cell body at a point of origin-called the axon hillock-and functions to send information. Neurons have four specialized structures that allow for the sending and receiving of information: the cell body (soma), dendrites, axon and axon terminals (see lowest figure).Ĭell body or soma: The cell body is the portion of the cell that surrounds the nucleus and plays a major role in synthesizing proteins.ĭendrites: Dendrites are short, branched processes that extend from the cell body.
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