Flashcards: Neurons

A dendritic spine (or spine) is a small membranous protrusion from a neuron's dendrite that typically receives input from a single axon at the synapse.

An axon (from Greek ἄξων áxōn, axis), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that typically conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's cell body.

Dendrites (from Greek δένδρον déndron, "tree") (also dendron) are the branched projections of a neuron that act to propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites project.

A bipolar cell is a type of neuron which has two extensions.

A unipolar neuron is a type of neuron in which only one protoplasmic process (neurite) extends from the cell body.

The rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), or ventromedial nucleus of the spinal cord, is a group of neurons located close to the midline on the floor of the medulla oblongata (myelencephalon).

The axolemma is the cell membrane surrounding an axon.

In the medulla oblongata, the arcuate nucleus is a group of neurons located on the anterior surface of the medullary pyramids.

A spinal interneuron is an interneuron found in the spinal cord that relays signals between afferent neurons and efferent neurons.

Nodes of Ranvier, also known as myelin sheath gaps, are periodic gaps in the insulating myelin sheaths of myelinated axons where the axonal membrane is exposed to the extracellular space.

The axon hillock is a specialized part of the cell body (or soma) of a neuron that connects to the axon.

Axoplasm is the cytoplasm within the axon of a neuron (nerve cell).

Neurolemma (also known as neurilemma or sheath of Schwann (Schwann's Sheath)) is the outermost nucleated cytoplasmic layer of Schwann cells (also called neurolemmocytes) that surrounds the axon of the neuron.