German anatomist Otto Friedrich Karl Deiters is generally credited with the discovery of the axon by distinguishing it from the dendrites. The term dendrites was first used in 1889 by Wilhelm His to describe the number of smaller "protoplasmic processes" that were attached to a nerve cell. Dendritic branching can be extensive and in some cases is sufficient to receive as many as 100,000 inputs to a single neuron. There can be as many as 15,000 spines per cell, each of which serves as a postsynaptic process for individual presynaptic axons. This ability for dendritic growth is thought to play a role in learning and memory formation. Increased neural activity and the establishment of long-term potentiation at dendritic spines change the sizes, shape, and conduction. Ĭertain classes of dendrites contain small projections referred to as dendritic spines that increase receptive properties of dendrites to isolate signal specificity. Unipolar dendrites are used to detect sensory stimuli such as touch or temperature. Unipolar neurons have a stalk that extends from the cell body that separates into two branches with one containing the dendrites and the other with the terminal buttons. Bipolar neurons have one axon and one dendritic tree at opposing ends of the cell body. Pyramidal cells are multipolar cortical neurons with pyramid shaped cell bodies and large dendrites called apical dendrites that extend to the surface of the cortex. Multipolar neurons, such as the one shown in the image, are composed of one axon and many dendritic trees. There are three main types of neurons multipolar, bipolar, and unipolar. An autapse is a synapse in which the axon of one neuron transmits signals to its own dendrites. However, synapses involving dendrites can also be axodendritic, involving an axon signaling to a dendrite, or dendrodendritic, involving signaling between dendrites. An action potential propagates the electrical activity along the membrane of the neuron's dendrites to the cell body and then afferently down the length of the axon to the axon terminal, where it triggers the release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft. This change in the membrane potential will passively spread across the dendrite but becomes weaker with distance without an action potential. Typically, when an electrochemical signal stimulates a neuron, it occurs at a dendrite and causes changes in the electrical potential across the neuron's plasma membrane. Dendrites provide an enlarged surface area to receive signals from the terminal buttons of other axons, and the axon also commonly divides at its far end into many branches ( telodendria) each of which ends in a nerve terminal, allowing a chemical signal to pass simultaneously to many target cells. Typically, axons transmit electrochemical signals and dendrites receive the electrochemical signals, although some types of neurons in certain species lack axons and simply transmit signals via their dendrites. Dendrites often taper off in shape and are shorter, while axons tend to maintain a constant radius and be relatively long. Axons can be distinguished from dendrites by several features including shape, length, and function. The green arrow shows the dendrites emanating from soma.ĭendrites are one of two types of protoplasmic protrusions that extrude from the cell body of a neuron, the other type being an axon. Electrical stimulation is transmitted onto dendrites by upstream neurons (usually via their axons) via synapses which are located at various points throughout the dendritic tree.ĭendrites play a critical role in integrating these synaptic inputs and in determining the extent to which action potentials are produced by the neuron. Please see for interactive version.ĭendrites (from Greek δένδρον déndron, "tree"), also dendrons, are branched protoplasmic extensions of a nerve cell that propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the neuron from which the dendrites project. The dendrites receive a signal, the axon hillock funnels the signal to the initial segment and the initial segment triggers the activity (action potential) that is sent along the axon towards the synapse. Synapses allow neurons to activate other neurons. Schwann cells make activity move faster down axon. The neuron contains dendrites that receives information, a cell body called the soma, and an axon that sends information.
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