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White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of grey matter within the central nervous system. The white matter is white because of the fatty substance (myelin) that surrounds the nerve fibers (axons). This myelin is found in almost all long nerve fibers, and acts as an electrical insulation.
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.
Being rich in lipid, myelin appears white, hence the name given to the "white matter" of the CNS. Both CNS white matter tracts (e.g. the optic nerve, corticospinal tract and corpus callosum) and PNS nerves (e.g. the sciatic nerve and the auditory nerve, which also appear white) each comprise thousands to millions of axons, largely aligned in ...
Another example of the Human Cell Atlas in action came during the Covid pandemic when the detailed maps of the body allowed scientists to anticipate how the virus would move from tissue to tissue ...
The gastrointestinal tract atlas, which includes the tissues of the mouth through to the esophagus, stomach, intestines and colon, was created with data from 1.6 million cells and revealed a cell ...
dMRI is a recent breakthrough in brain mapping allowing the visualization of cross connections between different anatomical parts of the brain. It allows noninvasive imaging of white matter fiber structure and in addition to mapping can be useful in clinical observations of abnormalities, including damage from stroke.
Using structural MRI, quantitative assessment of a number of developmental processes can be carried out including defining growth patterns, [9] and characterizing the sequence of myelination. [10] These data complement evidence from Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) studies that have been widely used to investigate the development of white matter.
Barriers can be many things: cell membranes, axons, myelin, etc.; but in white matter the principal barrier is the myelin sheath of axons. Bundles of axons provide a barrier to perpendicular diffusion and a path for parallel diffusion along the orientation of the fibers.