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This is called myelin or myelin sheath. It's made mainly from fat with a few proteins in it, and is produced by oligodendrocyte cells in the CNS and schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system.
It speeds up nerve signalling by allowing action potentials (the electric currents that make up nerve impulses) to skip between the gaps in the myelin (nodes of ranvier).
In unmyelinated axons, sodium and potassium channels have to create the voltage differences at every single step along the nerve. (Say for example 100 times per nerve). Myelinated neurones only need to create these voltage differences at the nodes of ranvier (where sodium and potassium ion channels are located on myelinated neurones) Say for example there are 10 nodes of ranvier on a myelinated axon.
The unmyelinated axon must create this voltage difference 10 times more frequently than the myelinated axon, hence the nerve impulse travels 10 times faster in a myelinated axon. (Based on the random numbers I used. In real life the numbers may be wildly different, but they still work in this way).
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∙ 13y ago
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∙ 15y agoThe usual name is myelin sheath, but it is sometimes called the medullary sheath.
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∙ 9y agoThe axons of some neurons have an insulating coating called the mylein sheath.
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∙ 13y agoSchwann Cells!
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∙ 13y agoMyelin sheath
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∙ 11y agoNEUROLEMMA
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∙ 10y agosynapse
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Why is there fat coating around the dendrites and axons?
The fat coating around the dendrites and axons is to insulate them.
What is a specialized cell that conducts impulses through the nervous system?
Neurons transmit and receive signals in the nervous system
Neurons are composed of a network of fine threads called?
Axons of neurons terminate in a series of fine extensions known as dendrites.
What is the job of the oligodendrocyte?
Oligodendrocytes are a type of glial (supporting) cell in the brain that sends out cytoplasmic extensions to insulate axons in the central nervous system. This allows for greater speeds of nervous impulses between the brain and a sensory receptor or between two neurons ("brain" cells).
Do Most neurons have many axons?
One
These cover the axonin order to make nerve signals faster?
Some axons have an insulating coating, called the fatty myelin sheath, to make signals travel faster.
What are the long arms of neurons called?
axons
What are the thin chain-like extensions of the neurons called?
Axons
The part of a spinal nerve that contains only sensory neurons is the?
The part of a spinal nerve that contains only sensory neurons is called the ventral root. There's also the axons of motor neurons and axons of sensory neurons.
The branchlike structures the receive messages from other neurons are called?
Axons
Why is there fat coating around the dendrites and axons?
The fat coating around the dendrites and axons is to insulate them.
What is a specialized cell that conducts impulses through the nervous system?
Neurons transmit and receive signals in the nervous system
What neurons normally have the shortest axons?
somatic motor neurons
Neurons are composed of a network of fine threads called?
Axons of neurons terminate in a series of fine extensions known as dendrites.
Groups of axons and dendrites in the PNS are called?
A group of axons in the CNS is most likely referring to the tracts of neurons that are found in the spinal cord.
Why is there a fatty coating around the neuron?
The myelin sheath around nerve tracts insulate and protect the nerve from too much stimulation and it also makes the electrical current, that is used to feel and move, move faster through the body. People who lack the myelin sheath have serious and life threatening problems because their bodies do not move when it is supposed to, one common disorder of demyelination is multiple sclerosis.
The cerebral cortex is the:a.gray matter, the axons and dendrites of neuronsb.gray matter, the cell bodies of neurons?
A.) The grey matter, the axons and dendrites of neurons.
