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Overview of Neuron Structure and Function

A neuron is a specialized cell that conducts electrochemical signals called nerve impulses along hairlike extensions called axons. Axons can extend long distances from the cell body to reach their destinations. The cell body contains the nucleus and controls the entire axon. Material is transported continuously along the axon by motor proteins to its ends. Many axons have a fatty myelin sheath covering formed by Schwann cells that aids in rapid signal transmission, with gaps between cells called nodes of Ranvier. There are three major classes of neurons: sensory neurons transmit signals from receptors to the CNS, motor neurons transmit signals from CNS to muscles/glands, and interneurons connect sensory and motor neurons or other interneurons within

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Katy Cowee
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12 views7 pages

Overview of Neuron Structure and Function

A neuron is a specialized cell that conducts electrochemical signals called nerve impulses along hairlike extensions called axons. Axons can extend long distances from the cell body to reach their destinations. The cell body contains the nucleus and controls the entire axon. Material is transported continuously along the axon by motor proteins to its ends. Many axons have a fatty myelin sheath covering formed by Schwann cells that aids in rapid signal transmission, with gaps between cells called nodes of Ranvier. There are three major classes of neurons: sensory neurons transmit signals from receptors to the CNS, motor neurons transmit signals from CNS to muscles/glands, and interneurons connect sensory and motor neurons or other interneurons within

Uploaded by

Katy Cowee
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

A neuron is a cell specialized to conduct

electrochemical impulses called nerve impulses or


action potentials.

All neurons outside the central nervous


system (and many within it) conduct impulses
along hairlike cytoplasmic extensions, the
nerve fibers or axons. (The diagram
represents a motor neuron with most of its
axon omitted.) The axons connecting your
spinal cord to your foot can be as much as 1
m long (although only a few micrometers in
diameter).
Axons grow out of the cell body, which houses
the nucleus as well as other organelles such as
the endoplasm reticulum. The length of some
axons is so great that it is remarkable that the
cell body controls them all the way to their tip.
There is a steady transport of cell components
(e.g., vesicles, mitochondria) from the cell body
along the entire length of the axon. This flow is
driven by kinesins moving along the many
microtubules in the cytoplasm within the axon.
Even so, it may take 2 weeks or longer for
material synthesized in the cell body to reach
the axon terminals in your big toe.

In many neurons, nerve impulses are


generated in short branched fibers called
dendrites and also in the cell body. The
impulses are then conducted along the axon,
which usually branches several times close to
its end.
Many axons are covered with a glistening
fatty sheath, the myelin sheath. It is the
greatly-expanded plasma membrane of an
accessory cell, the Schwann cell. Schwann
cells are spaced at regular intervals along
the axon. Their plasma membrane is
wrapped around and around the axon
forming the myelin sheath.

Where the sheath of one Schwann cell meets that of


the next, the axon is unprotected. This region, the
node of Ranvier, plays an important part in the
propagation of the nerve impulse.
There are three major classes of neurons.
Sensory neurons
These run from the various types of stimulus
receptors,
e.g.,
Touch
Odor
Taste
Sound
Vision,, to the central nervous system (CNS),
the brain and spinal cord.

The cell bodies of the neurons leading to the spinal


cord are located in clusters, the dorsal root ganglia
(DRG), next to the spinal cord. Their axon extends
in both directions: a peripheral axon to receptors at
the periphery and a central axon passing into the
spinal cord. The latter axon usually terminates at an
interneuron.
The diagram is a simplified view of the
relationship between sensory and motor
neurons running to and from the spinal cord.

Interneurons
These are found exclusively within the spinal cord
and brain. They are stimulated by signals reaching
them from
Sensory neurons
Other interneurons or
Both.
Interneurons are also called association neurons.
It is estimated that the human brain contains 100
billion (1011) interneurons averaging 1000
synapses on each; that is, some 1014 connections.
The term interneuron hides a great diversity of
structural and functional types of cells. In fact, it
is not yet possible to say how many different
kinds of interneurons are present in the human
brain. Certainly hundreds; perhaps many more.

Motor neurons
These transmit impulses from the central nervous
system to the
Muscles and
Glands
That carry out the response.
Most motor neurons are stimulated by interneurons,
although some are stimulated directly by sensory
neurons.

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