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neuron |
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neuron, specialized cell in animals that, as a unit of the nervous system nervous system, network of specialized tissue that controls actions and reactions of the body and its adjustment to the environment. Virtually all members of the animal kingdom have at least a rudimentary nervous system. ..... Click the link for more information. , carries information by receiving and transmitting electrical impulses. neuronor nerve cellAny of the cells of the nervous system. Sensory neurons relay information from sense organs, motor neurons carry impulses to muscles and glands, and interneurons transmit impulses between sensory and motor neurons. A typical neuron consists of dendrites (fibres that receive stimuli and conduct them inward), a cell body (a nucleated body that receives input from dendrites), and an axon (a fibre that conducts the nerve impulse from the cell body outward to the axon terminals). Both axons and dendrites may be referred to as nerve fibres. Impulses are relayed by neurotransmitter chemicals released by the axon terminals across the synapses (junctions between neurons or between a neuron and an effector cell, such as a muscle cell) or, in some cases, pass directly from one neuron to the next. Large axons are insulated by a myelin sheath formed by fatty cells called Schwann cells. Bundles of fibres from neurons held together by connective tissue form nerves. neuron [′nu̇‚rän] (neuroscience) A nerve cell, including the cell body, axon, and dendrites.
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A pain receptor will make a neuron "fire" only when a specific molecule shows up to activate it. The brains of males with autism contain unusually few neurons in the amygdala, an inner-brain structure involved in emotion and memory, a new study finds. The neurotransmitters from one neuron move across the synapse and lock into spaces called receptors on other neurons. |
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