The organization of the nervous system
Terms
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- Neuron
- Cell specialized for the conduction and transmission of electrical signals in the nervous system.
- Glial cells
- The support cells associated with neurons (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia in the central nervous system; Schwann cells in peripheral nerves; and satellite cells in ganglia).
- synapse
- Specialized apposition between a neuron and its target cell for transmission of information by release and reception of a chemical transmitter agent.
- Synaptic Terminal
- A presynaptic (axonal) ending.
- Axon
- The neuronal process that carries the action potential from the nerve cell body to a target.
- Action Potential
- The electrical signal conducted along axons (or muscle fibers) by which information is conveyed from one place to another in the nervous system.
- Synaptic Transmission
- The process by which infomation encoded by action potentials is passed on at synaptic contacts to the next cell in the pathway.
- Chemical Synapse
- Synapse that transmit information via the secretion of chemical signals (neurotransmitters).
- Synaptic Vesicles
- Spherical, membrane-bound organellesin presynaptic terminals that store neurotransmitters.
- Neurotransmitter
- Substance realeased by synaptic terminals for the purpose of transmitting information from one nerve cell to another.
- Neurotransmitter Receptor
- A molecule specialized to bind any one of a large number of chemical signals, preeminently neurotransmitters.
- Astrocytes
- One of the three major classes of glial cells found in the central nervous system; important in regulating the ionic milieu of nerve cells and, in some cases, transmitter reuptake.
- Oligodendrocytes
- One of three classes of central neuroglial cells; their major function is to elaborate myelin.
- Myelin
- The multilaminated wrapping around many axons formed by oligodendrocytes or Schwann cells.
- Schwann Cells
- Neuroglial cells in the peripheral nervous system that elaborate myelin (named after the 19th century anatomist and physiologist Theodor Schwann).
- Microglial cells
- One of the three main types of central nervous system glia; concerned primarily with repairing damage following neuornal injury.
- Neuropil
- The dense tangle of axonal and dendritic branches, and the synapses between them, that lies between neuronal cell bodies in the gray matter of the brain and spinal cord.
- Afferent Neurons
- An action that conducts action potentials from the periphery toward the central nervous system.
- Efferent Neurons
- An axon that conducts information away from the central nervous system.
- Interneuron
- Technically, a neuron in the pathway between primary sensory and primary effector neurons; more generally, a neuron that branches locally to innervate other neurons. Also, known as a local circuit neuron.