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Southwest Virginia MS Support Group

 
 
   
 

Dendrites

From www.Mult-Sclerosis.org/

 

 

 

 

Dendrites are branched filaments in nerve cells (neurons). The word dendrite derives from the Greek word for tree which describes their branching tree-like structure. Here is a diagram of a typical neuron showing the position of the dendrites:

 

 

A typical neuron in the central nervous system (CNS) has many thousand dendrites. It is the dendrites that receive the bulk of nervous signals from other neurons via connections called synapses (the synapse is the connection between nerve cells (neurons) in animals including humans. The synapse joins the axons in one neuron to the dendrites in another. Here is a diagram showing how the synapse connects axons to dendrites: ).

 

Here is a diagram of some synapses:

 

 

Dendrites provide the postsynaptic terminal (postsynaptic terminal is the receiving part of the connection between two nerve cells) component of a synapse. The nerve transmissions are received from the axons of other neurons via small signalling molecules called neurotransmitters.

Dendrites differ from axons in a number of ways:

 

Dendrites carry nerve impulses to the neuronal cell body (the soma) whereas the axons carry it away.

A neuron has very many dendrites but typically only one axon (although it can have more than one).

Dendrites are much thicker than synapses.

Some axons are sheathed in an insulating fatty protein called myelin. Dendites are not sheathed in myelin.

Dendrites are short whereas axons are long - sometimes as long as a meter or more.

 

Dendrite links: