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Myelin (/ ˈ m aɪ. ə l ɪ n / MY-ə-lin) is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) pass along the axon. [1] [2] The myelinated axon can be likened to an electrical wire (the axon) with insulating material (myelin) around it. However ...
Transmission electron micrograph of a myelinated axon Neuron with oligodendrocyte and myelin sheath showing cytoskeletal structures at a node of Ranvier The basic helix–loop–helix transcription factor OLIG1 plays an integral role in the process of oligodendrocyte myelinogenesis by regulating expression of myelin-related genes.
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 ...
Myelinated axons only allow action potentials to occur at the unmyelinated nodes of Ranvier that occur between the myelinated internodes. It is by this restriction that saltatory conduction propagates an action potential along the axon of a neuron at rates significantly higher than would be possible in unmyelinated axons (150 m/s compared from 0.5 to 10 m/s). [1]
The optimal ratio of axon diameter divided by the total fiber diameter (which includes the myelin) is 0.6. [24] Oligodendrocytes in rat cerebellum stained with antibody to myelin basic protein in red and for DNA in blue. Two oligodendrocyte cell bodies are clearly visible as well as several myelinated 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.
Group A are heavily myelinated, group B are moderately myelinated, and group C are unmyelinated. [1] [2] The other classification is a sensory grouping that uses the terms type Ia and type Ib, type II, type III, and type IV, sensory fibers. [1]
One small study found that men have more white matter than women both in volume and in length of myelinated axons, and that volume and length reduced with age. (This study only included 36 participants. [6]) At the age of 20, the total length of myelinated fibers in men is 176,000 km while that of a woman is 149,000 km.