axon

(-sōn')
n.
The usually long process of a nerve fiber that generally conducts impulses away from the body of the nerve cell.

[Greek axōn, axis.]

axonal ax'on·al (ăk'sə-nəl, ăk-sŏn'əl) adj.

(ak′son)
n

An extension of a nerve cell body that conducts impulses away from the cell. Generally there is only one axon to a cell, and it may extend up to 3 feet (0.9 m) in length.

A single, long, relatively unbranched process projecting from a cell body of a neurone, which transmits nerve impulses away from the cell body.

The part of a nerve cell or neuron that transfers a nerve impulse from the nerve cell body to a synapse with another cell. (See action potential.) Depending on the location of the cell, the length of an axon can vary widely. In some cases (such as the axons that form the spinal cord), they may be several feet long.

A nerve fibre that transmits signals, sometimes over distances of a metre or more. The signals are action potentials from sense organs (afferent fibres) to muscle (efferent fibres). Axons transmit with a wide range of velocities up to about the speed of sound, the largest diameter fibres having the fastest conduction rate. Myelinated axons transmit fastest. The myelin sheathing, formed of the myelin-producing Schwann cells, serves not only to increase the conduction rate but also to isolate fibres from each other. This is important where axons run in bundles, which in the extreme case of the optic nerve contain as many as a million nerve fibres. See neurotransmitters and neuromodulators.

(Published 1987)

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Pertaining to or arising from an axon.

• a. degeneration — an axon dies and cannot be replaced if its cell body is destroyed. A damaged axon in the central nervous system similarly cannot undergo regeneration, but a peripheral nerve with an intact nerve cell can regenerate. See also wallerian degeneration.
• a. dystrophy — specific diseases characterized by nutritional abnormalities of axons include in sheep, Suffolk, Coopworth, Merino axonal dystrophies, in dogs, Rottweiler, Chiahuahua dystrophies, in horses Haflinger, Morgan, in cats a dystrophy in lilac coat color domestic shorthaired.
• giant a. neuropathy — see giant axonal neuropathy.
• a. migration — the movement of axoplasm from the proximal segment of a severed nerve fiber to the distal portion, following Schwann cell extensions, in the process of peripheral nerve regeneration.
• a. reaction — central chromatolysis of the axon characterized by eccentric relocation of the nucleus, greater prominence of the nucleolus and a basophilic cap of RNA on its cytoplasmic aspect, dispersal of the Nissl substance to the periphery of the cell, and an increase in the number of neurofilaments.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - axon, nervetråd

Nederlands (Dutch)
axon (zenuwgeleider)

Français (French)
n. - axone

Deutsch (German)
n. - (med.) Rückgrat, Achsenzylinderfortsatz

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ανατ.) κυλινδράξων, νευρίτης

Italiano (Italian)
axon (biolog.)

Português (Portuguese)
n. - axônio (m) (Fisiol.)

Русский (Russian)
аксон, отросток осевого цилиндра

Español (Spanish)
n. - axón, neuroeje

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - nervtråd (med.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
轴突

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 軸突

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 축삭 돌기

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 軸索

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) محور عصبي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮זנבון ארוך המעביר פעימות מתא-עצב, אקסון‬

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axon midi