Question | Answer |
What is the basic functional unit of the nervous system and what does it do? | neurons (nerve cells) - specialized to conduct impulses |
What is a nerve cell made up of? | nerve cell body (soma), dendrites (short & numerous), the axon (long & few-normally the longest extension on the cell body), the myelin sheath, Bouton or synaptic knob (ending of the axon) |
What is the purpose of the dendrite? | It receives signals from the environment and brings it to the axon (think "dend" is "Doesn't sEND") |
What is the purpose of the axon? | The axon "acts on" a signal by sending an impulse; the impulse received by the dendrite travels the length of the axon, from the hillock to the terminal. There it is converted to a chemical message to be sent to the next neuron. |
What are processes? | The nerve fibers of the cell: the dendrites and axon |
What are Nissl bodies? | A type of rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) found in the neuron cell body; involved in protein synthesis |
What is the significance of nerves in muscles? | Without nerves, there is no life in a muscle |
What is a ganglion? | A group or collection of nerve cell bodies; one or more axons joined to a dendrite |