Related topics: brain , memory , brain cells , learning , nerve cells
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
Machine Translates Thoughts into Speech in Real Time
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 21, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (60) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By implanting an electrode into the brain of a person with locked-in syndrome, scientists have demonstrated how to wirelessly transmit neural signals to a speech synthesizer. The "thought-to-speech" ...
Scientists discover how the brain encodes memories at a cellular level
Dec 23, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (32) |
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Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have made a major discovery in how the brain encodes memories. The finding, published in the December 24 issue of the journal Neuron, could eventually lead to the development ...
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.
Synergistic interaction enhances pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease
Dec 23, 2009 |
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Scientists have identified a synergistic interaction that disrupts normal intracellular transport mechanisms and leads to the accumulation of neuron-damaging clumps of protein associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), a neurodegenerative ...
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Researchers crack part of the neuronal code
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (7) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Prostheses for paralysed patients, communication with patients who have lost all capacity for normal communication - the hopes for modern brain research are high. However, such brain-machine ...
IKK may act as both inhibitor and promoter of Huntington's disease
Dec 21, 2009 |
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The kinase IKK phosphorylates the protein mutated in Huntington's disease to promote its removal and neuron survival, but IKK may be a double-edged sword that increases neurotoxicity in later stages of the disease. The study, ...
Growing evidence suggests progesterone should be considered a treatment option for traumatic brain injuries
Dec 22, 2009 |
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Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, recommend that progesterone (PROG), a naturally occurring hormone found in both males and females that can protect damaged cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems, ...
Ladder-walking locusts show big brains aren't always best
Dec 24, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
1
Scientists have shown for the first time that insects, like mammals, use vision rather than touch to find footholds. They made the discovery thanks to high-speed video cameras - technology the BBC uses to ...
New human reproductive hormone could lead to novel contraceptives
Dec 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Nearly 10 years after the discovery that birds make a hormone that suppresses reproduction, University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientists have established that humans make it too, opening ...
Sniffing out clues to dogs' compulsive behavior
Dec 22, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- At first glance, a dog chasing its tail seems a harmless, if fruitless, pursuit. But for many dogs and their owners, the habit has a dark side, one that means endless hours and energy spent ...
Dutch researchers explore advanced brain diagnostic techniques
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 21, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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At present the task of diagnosing brain disorders using electroencephalography (EEG) is still performed by humans, but in years to come it will increasingly be taken over by computerized systems. This will ...
Microcephaly genes associated with human brain size
Dec 21, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
1
A group of Norwegian and American researchers have shown that common variations in genes associated with microcephaly - a neuro-developmental disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced - may explain differences ...
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