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Myelin's best known function is to increase the rate at which information, encoded as electrical charges, passes along the axon's length. Myelin achieves this by eliciting saltatory conduction. [1] Saltatory conduction refers to the fact that electrical impulses 'jump' along the axon, over long myelin sheaths, from one node of Ranvier to the ...
A single oligodendrocyte can extend its processes to cover up to 40 axons, that can include multiple adjacent axons. [2] The myelin sheath is not continuous but is segmented along the axon's length at gaps known as the nodes of Ranvier. In the peripheral nervous system the myelination of axons is carried out by Schwann cells. [1]
There are two types of axons in the nervous system: myelinated and unmyelinated axons. [5] Myelin is a layer of a fatty insulating substance, which is formed by two types of glial cells: Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes. In the peripheral nervous system Schwann cells form the myelin sheath of a myelinated axon. Oligodendrocytes form the ...
White matter refers to areas of the central nervous system (CNS) that are mainly made up of myelinated axons, also called tracts. [1] Long thought to be passive tissue, white matter affects learning and brain functions, modulating the distribution of action potentials, acting as a relay and coordinating communication between different brain ...
Myelin is formed by oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system.Therefore, the first stage of myelinogenesis is often defined as the differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) or Schwann cell progenitors into their mature counterparts, [4] followed by myelin formation around axons.
Since an axon can be unmyelinated or myelinated, the action potential has two methods to travel down the axon. These methods are referred to as continuous conduction for unmyelinated axons, and saltatory conduction for myelinated axons. Saltatory conduction is defined as an action potential moving in discrete jumps down a myelinated axon.
The myelin sheath that surrounds and protects nerve cells is made by cells called oligodendrocytes. In a person with MS, these cells are lost, so damaged myelin sheaths cannot be repaired.
Myelin basic protein (MBP) is a protein believed [weasel words] to be important in the process of myelination of nerves in the nervous system. The myelin sheath is a multi-layered membrane, unique to the nervous system, that functions as an insulator to greatly increase the velocity of axonal impulse conduction . [ 5 ]