Neuron

Neuron: Nerve Cell

Drawing by Santiago Ramón y Cajal of neurons in the pigeon cerebellum. (A) Denotes Purkinje cells, an example of a multipolar neuron. (B) Denotes granule cells, which are also multipolar.
NeuroLex ID sao1417703748

A neuron ( /ˈnjʊərɒn/ newr-on; also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form neural networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral ganglia. 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, cause muscle contractions, and affect glands. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord.

A typical neuron possesses a cell body (often called the soma), dendrites, and an axon. Dendrites are thin structures that arise from the cell body, often extending for hundreds of micrometres and branching multiple times, giving rise to a complex "dendritic tree". An axon is a special cellular extension that arises from the cell body at a site called the axon hillock and travels for a distance, as far as 1 m in humans or even more in other species. The cell body of a neuron frequently gives rise to multiple dendrites, but never to more than one axon, although the axon may branch hundreds of times before it terminates. At the majority of synapses, signals are sent from the axon of one neuron to a dendrite of another. There are, however, many exceptions to these rules: neurons that lack dendrites, neurons that have no axon, synapses that connect an axon to another axon or a dendrite to another dendrite, etc.

All neurons are electrically excitable, maintaining voltage gradients across their membranes by means of metabolically driven ion pumps, which combine with ion channels embedded in the membrane to generate intracellular-versus-extracellular concentration differences of ions such as sodium, potassium, chloride, and calcium. Changes in the cross-membrane voltage can alter the function of voltage-dependent ion channels. If the voltage changes by a large enough amount, an all-or-none electrochemical pulse called an action potential is generated, which travels rapidly along the cell's axon, and activates synaptic connections with other cells when it arrives.

With the exception of neural stem cells and a few other types of neurons, neurons do not undergo cell division. In most cases, neurons are generated by special types of stem cells. Astrocytes, a type of glial cell, have also been observed to turn into neurons by virtue of the stem cell characteristic pluripotency. In humans, neurogenesis largely ceases during adulthood—only for two brain areas, the hippocampus and olfactory bulb, is there strong evidence for generation of substantial numbers of new neurons.[1][2]

Contents

Overview

Structure of a typical neuron
Neuron

A neuron is a special type of cell found in the bodies of most animals (all members of the group Eumetazoa). Only sponges and a few other simpler animals have no neurons. The features that define a neuron are electrical excitability and the presence of synapses, which are complex membrane junctions that transmit signals to other cells. The body's neurons, plus the glial cells that give them structural and metabolic support, together constitute the nervous system. In vertebrates, the majority of neurons belong to the central nervous system, but some reside in peripheral ganglia, and many sensory neurons are situated in sensory organs such as the retina and cochlea.

Although neurons are very diverse and there are exceptions to nearly every rule, it is convenient to begin with a schematic description of the structure and function of a "typical" neuron. A typical neuron is divided into three parts: the soma or cell body, dendrites, and axon. The soma is usually compact; the axon and dendrites are filaments that extrude from it. Dendrites typically branch profusely, getting thinner with each branching, and extending their farthest branches a few hundred micrometres from the soma. The axon leaves the soma at a swelling called the axon hillock, and can extend for great distances, giving rise to hundreds of branches. Unlike dendrites, an axon usually maintains the same diameter as it extends. The soma may give rise to numerous dendrites, but never to more than one axon. Synaptic signals from other neurons are received by the soma and dendrites; signals to other neurons are transmitted by the axon. A typical synapse, then, is a contact between the axon of one neuron and a dendrite or soma of another. Synaptic signals may be excitatory or inhibitory. If the net excitation received by a neuron over a short period of time is large enough, the neuron generates a brief pulse called an action potential, which originates at the soma and propagates rapidly along the axon, activating synapses onto other neurons as it goes.

Many neurons fit the foregoing schema in every respect, but there are also exceptions to most parts of it. There are no neurons that lack a soma, but there are neurons that lack dendrites, and others that lack an axon. Furthermore, in addition to the typical axodendritic and axosomatic synapses, there are axoaxonic (axon-to-axon) and dendrodendritic (dendrite-to-dendrite) synapses.

The key to neural function is the synaptic signaling process, which is partly electrical and partly chemical. The electrical aspect depends on properties of the neuron's membrane. Like all animal cells, every neuron is surrounded by a plasma membrane, a bilayer of lipid molecules with many types of protein structures embedded in it. A lipid bilayer is a powerful electrical insulator, but in neurons, many of the protein structures embedded in the membrane are electrically active. These include ion channels that permit electrically charged ions to flow across the membrane, and ion pumps that actively transport ions from one side of the membrane to the other. Most ion channels are permeable only to specific types of ions. Some ion channels are voltage gated, meaning that they can be switched between open and closed states by altering the voltage difference across the membrane. Others are chemically gated, meaning that they can be switched between open and closed states by interactions with chemicals that diffuse through the extracellular fluid. The interactions between ion channels and ion pumps produce a voltage difference across the membrane, typically a bit less than 1/10 of a volt at baseline. This voltage has two functions: first, it provides a power source for an assortment of voltage-dependent protein machinery that is embedded in the membrane; second, it provides a basis for electrical signal transmission between different parts of the membrane.

Neurons communicate by chemical and electrical synapses in a process known as synaptic transmission. The fundamental process that triggers synaptic transmission is the action potential, a propagating electrical signal that is generated by exploiting the electrically excitable membrane of the neuron. This is also known as a wave of depolarization.

Anatomy and histology

Neurons are highly specialized for the processing and transmission of cellular signals. Given the diversity of functions performed by neurons in different parts of the nervous system, there is, as expected, a wide variety in the shape, size, and electrochemical properties of neurons. For instance, the soma of a neuron can vary from 4 to 100 micrometers in diameter.[3]

Although the canonical view of the neuron attributes dedicated functions to its various anatomical components, dendrites and axons often act in ways contrary to their so-called main function.

Axons and dendrites in the central nervous system are typically only about one micrometer thick, while some in the peripheral nervous system are much thicker. The soma is usually about 10–25 micrometers in diameter and often is not much larger than the cell nucleus it contains. The longest axon of a human motoneuron can be over a meter long, reaching from the base of the spine to the toes. Sensory neurons have axons that run from the toes to the dorsal columns, over 1.5 meters in adults. Giraffes have single axons several meters in length running along the entire length of their necks. Much of what is known about axonal function comes from studying the squid giant axon, an ideal experimental preparation because of its relatively immense size (0.5–1 millimeters thick, several centimeters long).

Fully differentiated neurons are permanently postmitotic;[5] however, recent research shows that additional neurons throughout the brain can originate from neural stem cells found throughout the brain but in particularly high concentrations in the subventricular zone and subgranular zone through the process of neurogenesis.[6]

Histology and internal structure

Nerve cell bodies stained with basophilic dyes show numerous microscopic clumps of Nissl substance (named after German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Franz Nissl, 1860–1919), which consists of rough endoplasmic reticulum and associated ribosomal RNA. The prominence of the Nissl substance can be explained by the fact that nerve cells are metabolically very active, and hence are involved in large amounts of protein synthesis.

The cell body of a neuron is supported by a complex meshwork of structural proteins called neurofilaments, which are assembled into larger neurofibrils. Some neurons also contain pigment granules, such as neuromelanin (a brownish-black pigment, byproduct of synthesis of catecholamines) and lipofuscin (yellowish-brown pigment that accumulates with age).

There are different internal structural characteristics between axons and dendrites. Typical axons almost never contain ribosomes, except some in the initial segment. Dendrites contain granular endoplasmic reticulum or ribosomes, with diminishing amounts with distance from the cell body.

Classes

Neurons exist in a number of different shapes and sizes and can be classified by their morphology and function. The anatomist Camillo Golgi grouped neurons into two types; type I with long axons used to move signals over long distances and type II with short axons, which can often be confused with dendrites. Type I cells can be further divided by where the cell body or soma is located. The basic morphology of type I neurons, represented by spinal motor neurons, consists of a cell body called the soma and a long thin axon covered by the myelin sheath. Around the cell body is a branching dendritic tree that receives signals from other neurons. The end of the axon has branching terminals (axon terminal) that release neurotransmitters into a gap called the synaptic cleft between the terminals and the dendrites of the next neuron.

Structural classification

Polarity

Most neurons can be anatomically characterized as:

Other

Furthermore, some unique neuronal types can be identified according to their location in the nervous system and distinct shape. Some examples are:

Functional classification

Direction

Afferent and efferent also refer generally to neurons that, respectively, bring information to or send information from the brain region.

Action on other neurons

A neuron affects other neurons by releasing a neurotransmitter that binds to chemical receptors. The effect upon the target neuron is determined not by the source neuron or by the neurotransmitter, but by the type of receptor that is activated. A neurotransmitter can be thought of as a key, and a receptor as a lock: the same type of key can here be used to open many different types of locks. Receptors can be classified broadly as excitatory (causing an increase in firing rate), inhibitory (causing a decrease in firing rate), or modulatory (causing long-lasting effects not directly related to firing rate).

In fact, however, the two most common neurotransmitters in the brain, glutamate and GABA, have actions that are largely consistent. Glutamate acts on several different types of receptors, but most of them have effects that are excitatory. Similarly GABA acts on several different types of receptors, but all of them have effects (in adult animals, at least) that are inhibitory. Because of this consistency, it is common for neuroscientists to simplify the terminology by referring to cells that release glutamate as "excitatory neurons," and cells that release GABA as "inhibitory neurons." Since over 90% of the neurons in the brain release either glutamate or GABA, these labels encompass the great majority of neurons. There are also other types of neurons that have consistent effects on their targets, for example "excitatory" motor neurons in the spinal cord that release acetylcholine, and "inhibitory" spinal neurons that release glycine.

The distinction between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters is not absolute, however. Rather, it depends on the class of chemical receptors present on the target neuron. In principle, a single neuron, releasing a single neurotransmitter, can have excitatory effects on some targets, inhibitory effects on others, and modulatory effects on others still. For example, photoreceptor cells in the retina constantly release the neurotransmitter glutamate in the absence of light. So-called OFF bipolar cells are, like most neurons, excited by the released glutamate. However, neighboring target neurons called ON bipolar cells are instead inhibited by glutamate, because they lack the typical ionotropic glutamate receptors and instead express a class of inhibitory metabotropic glutamate receptors.[8] When light is present, the photoreceptors cease releasing glutamate, which relieves the ON bipolar cells from inhibition, activating them; this simultaneously removes the excitation from the OFF bipolar cells, silencing them.

Discharge patterns

Neurons can be classified according to their electrophysiological characteristics:

Classification by neurotransmitter production

Neurons differ in the type of neurotransmitter they manufacture. Some examples are:

  1. AMPA and Kainate receptors both function as cation channels permeable to Na+ cation channels mediating fast excitatory synaptic transmission
  2. NMDA receptors are another cation channel that is more permeable to Ca2+. The function of NMDA receptors is dependant on Glycine receptor binding as a co-agonist within the channel pore. NMDA receptors do not function without both ligands present.
  3. Metabotropic receptors, GPCRs modulate synaptic transmission and postsynaptic excitability.
Glutamate can cause excitotoxicity when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, resulting in brain damage. When blood flow is suppressed, glutamate is released from presynaptic neurons causing NMDA and AMPA receptor activation moreso than would normally be the case outside of stress conditions, leading to elevated Ca2+ and Na+ entering the post synaptic neuron and cell damage.

Connectivity

Main articles: Synapse and Chemical synapse

Neurons communicate with one another via synapses, where the axon terminal or en passant boutons (terminals located along the length of the axon) of one cell impinges upon another neuron's dendrite, soma or, less commonly, axon. Neurons such as Purkinje cells in the cerebellum can have over 1000 dendritic branches, making connections with tens of thousands of other cells; other neurons, such as the magnocellular neurons of the supraoptic nucleus, have only one or two dendrites, each of which receives thousands of synapses. Synapses can be excitatory or inhibitory and either increase or decrease activity in the target neuron. Some neurons also communicate via electrical synapses, which are direct, electrically-conductive junctions between cells.

In a chemical synapse, the process of synaptic transmission is as follows: when an action potential reaches the axon terminal, it opens voltage-gated calcium channels, allowing calcium ions to enter the terminal. Calcium causes synaptic vesicles filled with neurotransmitter molecules to fuse with the membrane, releasing their contents into the synaptic cleft. The neurotransmitters diffuse across the synaptic cleft and activate receptors on the postsynaptic neuron.

The human brain has a huge number of synapses. Each of the 1011 (one hundred billion) neurons has on average 7,000 synaptic connections to other neurons. It has been estimated that the brain of a three-year-old child has about 1015 synapses (1 quadrillion). This number declines with age, stabilizing by adulthood. Estimates vary for an adult, ranging from 1014 to 5 x 1014 synapses (100 to 500 trillion).[11]

Mechanisms for propagating action potentials

In 1937, John Zachary Young suggested that the squid giant axon could be used to study neuronal electrical properties.[12] Being larger than but similar in nature to human neurons, squid cells were easier to study. By inserting electrodes into the giant squid axons, accurate measurements were made of the membrane potential.

The cell membrane of the axon and soma contain voltage-gated ion channels that allow the neuron to generate and propagate an electrical signal (an action potential). These signals are generated and propagated by charge-carrying ions including sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), chloride (Cl-), and calcium (Ca2+).

There are several stimuli that can activate a neuron leading to electrical activity, including pressure, stretch, chemical transmitters, and changes of the electric potential across the cell membrane.[13] Stimuli cause specific ion-channels within the cell membrane to open, leading to a flow of ions through the cell membrane, changing the membrane potential.

Thin neurons and axons require less metabolic expense to produce and carry action potentials, but thicker axons convey impulses more rapidly. To minimize metabolic expense while maintaining rapid conduction, many neurons have insulating sheaths of myelin around their axons. The sheaths are formed by glial cells: oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system and Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system. The sheath enables action potentials to travel faster than in unmyelinated axons of the same diameter, whilst using less energy. The myelin sheath in peripheral nerves normally runs along the axon in sections about 1 mm long, punctuated by unsheathed nodes of Ranvier, which contain a high density of voltage-gated ion channels. Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder that results from demyelination of axons in the central nervous system.

Some neurons do not generate action potentials, but instead generate a graded electrical signal, which in turn causes graded neurotransmitter release. Such nonspiking neurons tend to be sensory neurons or interneurons, because they cannot carry signals long distances.

Neural coding

Neural coding is concerned with how sensory and other information is represented in the brain by neurons. The main goal of studying neural coding is to characterize the relationship between the stimulus and the individual or ensemble neuronal responses, and the relationships amongst the electrical activities of the neurons within the ensemble.[14] It is thought that neurons can encode both digital and analog information.[15]

All-or-none principle

The conduction of nerve impulses is an example of an all-or-none response. In other words, if a neuron responds at all, then it must respond completely. Greater intensity of stimulation does not produce a stronger signal but can produce more impulses per second. There are different types of receptor response to stimulus, slowly adapting or tonic receptors respond to steady stimulus and produce a steady rate of firing. These tonic receptors most often respond to increased intensity of stimulus by increasing their firing frequency, usually as a power function of stimulus plotted against impulses per second. This can be likened to an intrinsic property of light where to get greater intensity of a specific frequency (color) there have to be more photons, as the photons can't become "stronger" for a specific frequency.

There are a number of other receptor types that are called quickly-adapting or phasic receptors, where firing decreases or stops with steady stimulus; examples include: skin when touched by an object causes the neurons to fire, but if the object maintains even pressure against the skin, the neurons stop firing. The neurons of the skin and muscles that are responsive to pressure and vibration have filtering accessory structures that aid their function.

The pacinian corpuscle is one such structure. It has concentric layers like an onion, which form around the axon terminal. When pressure is applied and the corpuscle is deformed, mechanical stimulus is transferred to the axon, which fires. If the pressure is steady, there is no more stimulus; thus, typically these neurons respond with a transient depolarization during the initial deformation and again when the pressure is removed, which causes the corpuscle to change shape again. Other types of adaptation are important in extending the function of a number of other neurons.[16]

History

The term neuron was coined by the German anatomist Heinrich Wilhelm Waldeyer. The neuron's place as the primary functional unit of the nervous system was first recognized in the early 20th century through the work of the Spanish anatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal.[17] Ramón y Cajal proposed that neurons were discrete cells that communicated with each other via specialized junctions, or spaces, between cells.[17] This became known as the neuron doctrine, one of the central tenets of modern neuroscience.[17] To observe the structure of individual neurons, Ramón y Cajal improved a silver staining process known as Golgi's method, which had been developed by his rival, Camillo Golgi.[17] Cajal's improvement, which involved a technique he called "double impregnation", is still in use. The silver impregnation stains are an extremely useful method for neuroanatomical investigations because, for reasons unknown, it stains a very small percentage of cells in a tissue, so one is able to see the complete micro structure of individual neurons without much overlap from other cells in the densely packed brain.[18]

The neuron doctrine

The neuron doctrine is the now fundamental idea that neurons are the basic structural and functional units of the nervous system. The theory was put forward by Santiago Ramón y Cajal in the late 19th century. It held that neurons are discrete cells (not connected in a meshwork), acting as metabolically distinct units.

Later discoveries yielded a few refinements to the simplest form of the doctrine. For example, glial cells, which are not considered neurons, play an essential role in information processing.[19] Also, electrical synapses are more common than previously thought,[20] meaning that there are direct, cytoplasmic connections between neurons. In fact, there are examples of neurons forming even tighter coupling: the squid giant axon arises from the fusion of multiple axons.[21]

Ramón y Cajal also postulated the Law of Dynamic Polarization, which states that a neuron receives signals at its dendrites and cell body and transmits them, as action potentials, along the axon in one direction: away from the cell body.[22] The Law of Dynamic Polarization has important exceptions; dendrites can serve as synaptic output sites of neurons[23] and axons can receive synaptic inputs.

Neurons in the brain

The number of neurons in the brain varies dramatically from species to species.[24] One estimate puts the human brain at about 100 billion (10^{11}) neurons and 100 trillion (10^{14}) synapses.[24] Another estimate is 86 billion neurons, of which 16.3 billion are in the cerebral cortex, and 69 billion in the cerebellum.[25] By contrast, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has just 302 neurons making it an ideal experimental subject as scientists have been able to map all of the organism's neurons. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a common subject in biological experiments, has around 100,000 neurons and exhibits many complex behaviors. Many properties of neurons, from the type of neurotransmitters used to ion channel composition, are maintained across species, allowing scientists to study processes occurring in more complex organisms in much simpler experimental systems.

Neurological disorders

Main article: Neurology

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), also known as Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathy (HMSN), Hereditary Sensorimotor Neuropathy (HMSN), or Peroneal Muscular Atrophy, is a heterogeneous inherited disorder of nerves (neuropathy) that is characterized by loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation, predominantly in the feet and legs but also in the hands and arms in the advanced stages of disease. Presently incurable, this disease is one of the most common inherited neurological disorders, with 37 in 100,000 affected.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), also known simply as Alzheimer's, is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive deterioration together with declining activities of daily living and neuropsychiatric symptoms or behavioral changes. The most striking early symptom is loss of short-term memory (amnesia), which usually manifests as minor forgetfulness that becomes steadily more pronounced with illness progression, with relative preservation of older memories. As the disorder progresses, cognitive (intellectual) impairment extends to the domains of language (aphasia), skilled movements (apraxia), and recognition (agnosia), and functions such as decision-making and planning become impaired.

Parkinson's disease (PD), also known as Parkinson disease, is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's motor skills and speech. Parkinson's disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. It is characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement (bradykinesia), and in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement (akinesia). The primary symptoms are the results of decreased stimulation of the motor cortex by the basal ganglia, normally caused by the insufficient formation and action of dopamine, which is produced in the dopaminergic neurons of the brain. Secondary symptoms may include high level cognitive dysfunction and subtle language problems. PD is both chronic and progressive.

Myasthenia Gravis is a neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatigability during simple activities. Weakness is typically caused by circulating antibodies that block acetylcholine receptors at the post-synaptic neuromuscular junction, inhibiting the stimulative effect of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Myasthenia is treated with immunosuppressants, cholinesterase inhibitors and, in selected cases, thymectomy.

Demyelination

Demyelination is the act of demyelinating, or the loss of the myelin sheath insulating the nerves. When myelin degrades, conduction of signals along the nerve can be impaired or lost, and the nerve eventually withers. This leads to certain neurodegenerative disorders like multiple sclerosis and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy.

Axonal degeneration

Although most injury responses include a calcium influx signaling to promote resealing of severed parts, axonal injuries initially lead to acute axonal degeneration (AAD), which is rapid separation of the proximal and distal ends within 30 minutes of injury. Degeneration follows with swelling of the axolemma, and eventually leads to bead like formation. Granular disintegration of the axonal cytoskeleton and inner organelles occurs after axolemma degradation. Early changes include accumulation of mitochondria in the paranodal regions at the site of injury. Endoplasmic reticulum degrades and mitochondria swell up and eventually disintegrate. The disintegration is dependent on Ubiquitin and Calpain proteases (caused by influx of calcium ion), suggesting that axonal degeneration is an active process. Thus the axon undergoes complete fragmentation. The process takes about roughly 24 hrs in the PNS, and longer in the CNS. The signaling pathways leading to axolemma degeneration are currently unknown.

Nerve regeneration

Main article: Nerve regeneration

It has been demonstrated that neurogenesis can sometimes occur in the adult vertebrate brain, a finding that led to controversy in 1999.[26] However, more recent studies of the age of human neurons suggest that this process occurs only for a minority of cells, and the overwhelming majority of neurons comprising the neocortex were formed before birth and persist without replacement.[27]

It is often possible for peripheral axons to regrow if they are severed. This regrowth can take a long time: after a nerve injury to the human arm, for example, it may take months for feeling to return to the hands and fingers. A report in Nature suggested that researchers had found a way to transform human skin cells into working nerve cells using a process called transdifferentiation in which "cells are forced to adopt new identities."[28]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/15/us/brain-may-grow-new-cells-daily.html
  2. ^ http://www.pnas.org/content/103/33/12219.full
  3. ^ Davies, Melissa (2002-04-09). "The Neuron: size comparison". Neuroscience: A journey through the brain. http://www.ualberta.ca/~neuro/OnlineIntro/NeuronExample.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
  4. ^ Chudler, Eric H.. "Brain Facts and Figures". Neuroscience for Kids. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/facts.html. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
  5. ^ Herrup K, Yang Y (Ma3371545712287 Content-Dispositin2124 2007). "Cell cycle regulation in the postmitotic neuron: oxymoron or new biology?". Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 8 (5): 368–78. doi:10.1038/nrn2124. PMID 17453017. 
  6. ^ Alvarez-Buylla A, Garcia-Verdugo JM (February 1, 2002). "Neurogenesis in adult subventricular zone". Journal of Neuroscience 22 (3): 629–34. PMID 11826091. http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=11826091. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
  7. ^ http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040029
  8. ^ Gerber U (2003). "Metabotropic glutamate receptors in vertebrate retina". Doc Ophthalmol 106 (1): 83–87. doi:10.1023/A:1022477203420. PMID 12675489. http://www.springerlink.com/content/m748132506x00lm4/. 
  9. ^ Kolodin, YO; Veselovskaia, NN; Veselovsky, NS; Fedulova, SA. "Ion conductances related to shaping the repetitive firing in rat retinal ganglion cells". Acta Physiologica Congress. http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/aphmeeting/abstract.asp?MeetingID=&id=61198. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
  10. ^ Ionic conductances underlying excitability in tonically firing retinal ganglion cells of adult rat
  11. ^ Drachman D (2005). "Do we have brain to spare?". Neurology 64 (12): 2004–5. doi:10.1212/01.WNL.0000166914.38327.BB. PMID 15985565. 
  12. ^ Chudler, Eric H.. "Milestones in Neuroscience Research". Neuroscience for Kids. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/hist.html. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
  13. ^ Patlak, Joe; Gibbons, Ray (2000-11-01). "Electrical Activity of Nerves". Aps in Nerve Cells. http://physioweb.med.uvm.edu/cardiacep/EP/nervecells.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 
  14. ^ Brown EN, Kass RE, and Mitra PP. 2004. Multiple neural spike train data analysis: state-of-the-art and future challenges. Nature Neuroscience 7:456-61
  15. ^ Spike arrival times: A highly efficient coding scheme for neural networks, SJ Thorpe – Parallel processing in neural systems, 1990
  16. ^ Eckert, Roger; Randall, David (1983). Animal physiology: mechanisms and adaptations. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. pp. 239. ISBN 0-7167-1423-x. 
  17. ^ a b c d López-Muñoz, F.; Boya, J., Alamo, C. (16 October 2006). "Neuron theory, the cornerstone of neuroscience, on the centenary of the Nobel Prize award to Santiago Ramón y Cajal". Brain Research Bulletin 70 (4–6): 391–405. doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.07.010. PMID 17027775. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6SYT-4KMYRRC-1/2/b98a884961498c54452886842389ed72. Retrieved 2007-04-02. 
  18. ^ Grant, Gunnar; Boya, J; Alamo, C (9 January 2007 (online)). "How the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared between Golgi and Cajal". Brain Research Reviews 55 (4–6): 490–8. doi:10.1016/j.brainresrev.2006.11.004. PMID 17306375. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6SYS-4MSHXWR-1/2/51f3edfd18b81abbd0a9d56e98de6ceb. Retrieved 2007-04-02. 
  19. ^ Witcher M, Kirov S, Harris K (2007). "Plasticity of perisynaptic astroglia during synaptogenesis in the mature rat hippocampus". Glia 55 (1): 13–23. doi:10.1002/glia.20415. PMID 17001633. 
  20. ^ Connors B, Long M (2004). "Electrical synapses in the mammalian brain". Annu Rev Neurosci 27: 393–418. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.26.041002.131128. PMID 15217338. 
  21. ^ R. W. Guillery, Observations of synaptic structures: origins of the neuron doctrine and its current status, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B (2005) 360, 1281–1307 (p 1300).
  22. ^ Sabbatini R.M.E. April–July 2003. Neurons and Synapses: The History of Its Discovery. Brain & Mind Magazine, 17. Retrieved on March 19, 2007.
  23. ^ Djurisic M, Antic S, Chen W, Zecevic D (2004). "Voltage imaging from dendrites of mitral cells: EPSP attenuation and spike trigger zones". J Neurosci 24 (30): 6703–14. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0307-04.2004. PMID 15282273. 
  24. ^ a b Williams RW, Herrup K (1988). "The control of neuron number". Annual Review of Neuroscience 11: 423–53. doi:10.1146/annurev.ne.11.030188.002231. PMID 3284447. 
  25. ^ Azevedo FA, Carvalho LR, Grinberg LT, et al. (April 2009). "Equal numbers of neuronal and nonneuronal cells make the human brain an isometrically scaled-up primate brain". The Journal of Comparative Neurology 513 (5): 532–41. doi:10.1002/cne.21974. PMID 19226510. 
  26. ^ Brain may grow new cells daily, New York Times 1999.
  27. ^ Stable neuron numbers from cradle to grave. PNAS.
  28. ^ Ewen Callaway (26 May 2011). "How to make a human neuron". NatureNews. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110526/full/news.2011.328.html. Retrieved 2011-05-24. "By transforming cells from human skin into working nerve cells, researchers may have come up with a model for nervous-system diseases and perhaps even regenerative therapies based on cell transplants. The achievement, reported online today in Nature, is the latest in a fast-moving field called transdifferentiation, in which cells are forced to adopt new identities. In the past year, researchers have converted connective tissue cells found in skin into heart cells, blood cells and liver cells." 

References

External links

CNS
General
Other
PNS
General
Neurons/
nerve fibers
Parts
Types
Termination

M: CNS

anat(n/s/m/p/4/e/b/d/c/a/f/l/g)/phys/devp

noco(m/d/e/h/v/s)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr

proc, drug(N1A/2AB/C/3/4/7A/B/C/D)

M: PNS

anat(h/r/t/c/b/l/s/a)/phys(r)/devp/prot/nttr/nttm/ntrp

noco/auto/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr

proc, drug(N1B)