axoplasm

Axoplasm is the cytoplasm within the axon of a neuron. Neural processes (axons and dendrites) contain about 99.6% of the cell’s cytoplasm, and 99.7% of that is in the axons (Sabry et al., 1995).

Axoplasm has a different composition of organelles and other materials than that found in the neuron's cell body or dendrites. In axoplasmic transport, materials are carried through the axoplasm to or from the soma.

The electrical resistance of the axoplasm, called axoplasmic resistance, is one aspect of a neuron's cable properties, because it affects the rate of travel of an action potential down an axon. If the axoplasm contains many molecules that are not electrically conductive, it will slow the travel of the potential because it will cause more ions to flow across the axolemma (the axon's membrane) than through the axoplasm.

References

• Sabry J., O’Connor T. P., and Kirschner M. W. (1995). Axonal Transport of Tubulin in Ti1 Pioneer Neurons in Situ. Neuron. 14: 1247-1256.

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