Related topics: brain , proceedings of the national academy of sciences , brain cells , neurons , nature neuroscience
Neuron
hideA neuron (pronounced /ˈnjʊərɒn/ N(Y)OOR-on, also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable cell in the nervous system that processes and transmits information by electrochemical signalling. Neurons are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves. A number of specialized types of neurons exist: sensory neurons respond to touch, sound, light and numerous other stimuli affecting cells of the sensory organs that then send signals to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord and cause muscle contractions and affect glands. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord. Neurons respond to stimuli, and communicate the presence of stimuli to the central nervous system, which processes that information and sends responses to other parts of the body for action. Neurons do not go through mitosis, and usually cannot be replaced after being destroyed, although astrocytes have been observed to turn into neurons as they are sometimes pluripotent.
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News tagged with nerve cells
Scientists discover a controller of brain circuitry
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 28, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (18) |
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By combining a research technique that dates back 136 years with modern molecular genetics, a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist has been able to see how a mammal's brain shrewdly revisits and reuses the same molecular ...
Common mechanism underlies many diseases of excitability
Dec 28, 2009 |
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Inherited mutations in voltage-gated sodium channels (Navs) are associated with many different human diseases, including genetic forms of epilepsy and chronic pain. Theodore Cummins and colleagues, at Indiana University School ...
Study shows a key protein helps control blood pressure
Dec 23, 2009 |
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University of Iowa researchers have shown that a protein channel helps nerve sensors in blood vessels keep blood pressure in check. Without the protein channel, known as ASIC2, the sensors are unable to send the brain the ...
Up a little on the left... now, over to the right... Scientists find a source of nonallergic itch
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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Scratching below the surface of a troublesome sensation that's equal parts tingle-tickle-prickle, sensory scientists from Johns Hopkins have discovered in mice a molecular basis for nonallergic itch.
Researchers show brain waves can 'write' on a computer in early tests
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Neuroscientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Jacksonville, Fla., have demonstrated how brain waves can be used to type alphanumerical characters on a computer screen. By merely focusing on the "q" in a matrix of letters, ...
Mathematical model of a simple circuit in a chicken brain raises fundamental questions
Dec 01, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (28) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The Web site Neuroanthropology asks visitors to complete this quote, "One of the difficulties in understanding the brain is ...". In addition to the typical facetious remarks, such as "so ...
Tiny molecule slows progression of Lou Gehrig's disease in mice
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that a molecule produced naturally by muscles in response to nerve damage can reduce symptoms and prolong life in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ...
New insight in nerve cell communication
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 22, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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Communication between nerve cells is vital for our bodies to function. Part of this communication happens through vesicles containing signalling molecules called neurotransmitters. The vesicle fuses with the ...
Glutamate can play key role in drug impact on brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 16, 2009 |
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1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Addiction disorders of various kinds are a major health and social problem, and our knowledge of how the brain’s reward system functions needs to be enhanced. Uppsala researchers now shows an unexpected effect ...
Green tea chemical combined with another may hold promise for treatment of brain disorders
Dec 03, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein ...
Lifelong memories linked to stable nerve connections
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 03, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Our ability to learn new information and adapt to changes in our daily environment, as well as to retain lifelong memories, appears to lie in the minute junctions where nerve cells communicate, according to ...
Nervy research: Researchers take initial look at ion channels in a model system
Dec 02, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Before one of your muscles can twitch, before the thought telling it to flex can race down your nerve, a tiny floodgate of sorts -- called an ion channel -- must open in the surface of each cell in these organs ...
New source discovered for the generation of nerve cells in the brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 01, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (6) |
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The research group of Professor Magdalena Gotz of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich (Germany) has made a significant advance in understanding regeneration processes in the brain. The researchers ...
Finding the Achilles' heel of cancer
Dec 10, 2009 |
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A never-approved drug developed to prevent the death of nerve cells after a stroke can efficiently kill cancer cells while keeping normal cells healthy and intact, an international team led by a Tel Aviv University ...
New clues emerge for understanding morphine addiction
Dec 09, 2009 |
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Scientists are adding additional brush strokes to the revolutionary new image now emerging for star-shaped cells called astrocytes in the brain and spinal cord. Their report, which suggests a key role for ...
