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 neurons
Developmental delay could stem from nicotinic receptor deletion
Nov 08, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (3) |
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The loss of a gene through deletion of genetic material on chromosome 15 is associated with significant abnormalities in learning and behavior, said a consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine in a report ...
Researchers identify drug candidate for treating spinal muscular atrophy
Nov 04, 2009 |
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A chemical cousin of the common antibiotic tetracycline might be useful in treating spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a currently incurable disease that is the leading genetic cause of death in infants. This is the finding of ...
Brain maps help guide you through large-scale space, researchers find
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 03, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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Lost? Not sure how to get home? Trying to find your way through the mall or an airport? Help is on the way, thanks to a stack of cells, or neurons, in your head. They're mostly on the left side of the brain in males, on the ...
This is your brain on fatty acids
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 30, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
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Saturated fats have a deservedly bad reputation, but Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a sticky lipid occurring naturally at high levels in the brain may help us memorize grandma's recipe for cinnamon buns, as ...
Circadian surprise: Mechanism of temperature synchronization in drosophila
Oct 28, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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New research reveals a pathway that links peripheral sensory tissues with a "clock" in the brain to regulate molecular processes and behaviors in response to cyclical temperature changes. The research, published by Cell Press ...
New 'schizophrenia gene' prompts researchers to test potential drug target
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 27, 2009 |
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Johns Hopkins scientists report having used a commercially available drug to successfully "rescue" animal brain cells that they had intentionally damaged by manipulating a newly discovered gene that links susceptibility genes ...
Researchers identify dominant chemical that attracts mosquitoes to humans
Oct 26, 2009 |
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Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus ...
Now hear this: Scientists show how tiny cells deliver big sound
Oct 22, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
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Deep in the ear, 95 percent of the cells that shuttle sound to the brain are big, boisterous neurons that, to date, have explained most of what scientists know about how hearing works. Whether a rare, whisper-small second ...
Getting on 'the GABA receptor shuttle' to treat anxiety disorders
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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There are increasingly precise molecular insights into ways that stress exposure leads to fear and through which fear extinction resolves these fear states. Extinction is generally regarded as new inhibitory learning, but ...
You can control your Marilyn Monroe neuron
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (26) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a scientific first, researchers have been able to demonstrate the ability of humans to control the activity of individual brain cells.
Pushing through brain barriers
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 21, 2009 |
2 / 5 (3) |
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Understanding the inner workings of the brain remains one of the last frontiers in all of neurobiology. A Case Western Reserve University engineering professor is developing a miniaturized low-power device to detect how electrical ...
Could some forms of mental retardation be treated with drugs?
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 20, 2009 |
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Growth factors. They are the proteins that trigger a countless number of actions in cells. Drugs that increase or decrease certain growth factors have lead to treatments for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Georgetown ...
Checkered history of mother and daughter cells explains cell cycle differences (w/ Video)
Oct 19, 2009 |
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When mother and daughter cells are created each time a cell divides, they are not exactly alike. They have the same set of genes, but differ in the way they regulate them. New research now reveals that these regulatory differences ...
Understanding the brain's natural foil for over-excited neurons
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 19, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (3) |
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Glutamate is to the brain like coffee is to our bodies. A cup of Joe in the morning can wake us, but overloading on caffeine causes the stimulant to work against us.
Neuroscientists find neural stopwatch in the brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 19, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Keeping track of time is one of the brain's most important tasks. As the brain processes the flood of sights and sounds it encounters, it must also remember when each event occurred. But how ...
