Nerve Cells

Site Plan | I. Neurons/nerve cells A neuron is a cell specialized to conduct electrochemical impulses called nerve impulses or action potentials. Neuron is the main cellular component of the nervous system, a specialized type of cell that integrates electrochemical activity of the other neurons that are connected to it and that propagates that integrated activity to other neurons. They are the basic information processing structures in the CNS. There are as many as 10,000 specific types of neurons in the human brain, A. Types of Neurons a. 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. b. Sensory neurons These run from the various types of stimulus receptors, e.g., to the central nervous system (CNS), the brain and spinal cord. * touch * odor * taste * sound * vision c. Interneurons Interneurons >are found exclusively within the spinal cord and brain. They are stimulated by signals reaching them from * sensory neurons * other interneurons or * both. > also called association neurons. B. Structure of Neurons a. Processes 1. Dendrite Dendritic connections are the basic receiving stations by which neurons form the signaling networks that constitute the brain 's circuitry. 2. AxonsAll neurons outside the central nervous system (and many within it) conduct impulses along hairlike cytoplasmic extensions, the nerve

Links: Sherrington (1890) studied reflex functions of spinal cord - coined the word synapse = a functional connection between surfaces