Neurons

Neurons are the basic functional unit of the nervous system. The average human brain contains about 100 billion neurons. They are electrically excitable cells that conduct information between cells via electro-chemical signaling. Neurons have a highly specialized morphology that allows them to receive and transmit information. A typical neuron possesses a soma, dendrites, and an axon. The dendrites are short, highly branched extensions that receive input signals from the internal and external environments. The information is then transmitted to the soma, the cell body of the neuron, and then down the axon, a long slender projection that conducts the information as an electrical impulse, called an action potential. The information is transferred to an effector cell, which can be a neuron, muscle cell, or gland, across a specialized connection called a synapse. In the brain, each individual neuron can form thousands of links with other neurons, forming a complex network of neural connections. R&D Systems offers a range of research tools needed for investigating neuronal functioning.