node of ranvier
The myelin sheath wraps around the around the axon of a neuron. The gaps of the myelin sheath are not insulated and are therefore capable of generating electrical activity.
You can have benign tumors of myelin sheath cells, like astrocytoma. Nerve cells do not divide and so you do not get tumors of nerve cells. Also destruction of the myelin sheath is the cause of MS (multiple sclerosis).
The myelin sheath. Due to its insulating properties, the myelin sheath prevents the movement of ions in nerve cells. Therefore nervous impulses will jump between the gaps in the myelin sheath (called the Nodes of Ranvier). This is a lot quicker than the conduction in non-myelinated nerve fibres which occurs by the movement of ions across each of the nerve cell membranes.
The fatty tissue surrounding the axon of a neuron is called myelin.
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).
In the fatty myelin sheath there are gaps between the axons. The myelin sheath gaps are referred to as the nodes of Ranvier.
Node of Ranvier
The myelin sheath wraps around the around the axon of a neuron. The gaps of the myelin sheath are not insulated and are therefore capable of generating electrical activity.
nodes (:I do not disagree with that answer, but I just want to point out that the nodes have a special name. They are called Nodes of Ranvier, named after the man that discovered them (so Ranvier is capitalized). C:
You can have benign tumors of myelin sheath cells, like astrocytoma. Nerve cells do not divide and so you do not get tumors of nerve cells. Also destruction of the myelin sheath is the cause of MS (multiple sclerosis).
Because the sheath is produced by several Schwann cells that arrange themselves end to end along the nerve fiber, each Schwann cell forms only one part of the tiny segment of the sheath.
The myelin sheath. Due to its insulating properties, the myelin sheath prevents the movement of ions in nerve cells. Therefore nervous impulses will jump between the gaps in the myelin sheath (called the Nodes of Ranvier). This is a lot quicker than the conduction in non-myelinated nerve fibres which occurs by the movement of ions across each of the nerve cell membranes.
It is etiher a. specific brain regions. b. synaptic gaps. c. endorphins. d. the myelin sheath. It is etiher a. specific brain regions. b. synaptic gaps. c. endorphins. d. the myelin sheath.
The function of the myelin sheath is to insulate the axon of the neuron. When there are gaps in the sheath, known as nodes of Ranvier, the nerve impulse can jump from gap to gap, thus increasing greatly the speed of conduction of the nerve impulse. This is known as saltatory conduction.
The function of the myelin sheath is to insulate the axon of the neuron. When there are gaps in the sheath, known as nodes of Ranvier, the nerve impulse can jump from gap to gap, thus increasing greatly the speed of conduction of the nerve impulse. This is known as saltatory conduction.
Saltatory conduction is made possible by gaps in the myelin sheath (called nodes of Ranvier) along the axon, which allow for the action potential to "jump" from one node to the other, increasing conduction velocity.
The fatty tissue surrounding the axon of a neuron is called myelin.