Define Nerve Cell Morphology

The neurons in the mammalian nervous system occur in a variety of shapes and sizes. A typical cell has a cell body, the dendrites, axon and its terminals. Look at Figure which illustrates the structure of a nerve cell - the neuron.

The cell body, which has a nucleus, arborizes to form dendrites which are the thin processes that extend out, as shown in Figure. From the thick concentrated region of the cell body arises a long extended fiber known as aron. Each axon is covered by a myelin sheath. It is made up of a protein lipid complex. This is further surrounded by schwann cells (Glial cells).The axon is constricted at various positions, where it is denuded of myelin. This region is known as nodes of Ranvier.