The brain is a very advanced and complex organ. Its intricate functions are based off of the simplicity of its subunits. These cells play a very important role in the bodies’ complex functions. Its subunits are referred to as neurons, which are made up of a cell body and branching fibers. The procedure for how each neuron produces and accepts neuron transmitters are all similar; so to understand how the subunits work, may someday help us to further understand how the brain and its complex functions work.
The beginning of the complex neuron transfer starts in the cell’s body or soma. Located here are dendrites, which are the branching extensions of a neuron that receive messages and conduct impulses toward the cell body. The dendrites do not actually receive the chemical messages, but the dendrite receptors, positioned on the dendrites and soma, do. They receive the messages sent by other cells and then send the messages through dendrites. The dendrite receptors accept or reject the neurotransmitters produced by neighboring neurons. The chemical message is then sent down the soma, past the nucleus to the threshold. It is here that the cell body and axon are connected, and it is here that the chemical message is changed into an electrical message.
The electrical message moves through the axon. This is an extension of the neuron and ends in the axon terminals- so as to be passed on to other neurons. However, before this can occur there are several different levels the message must travel down. Surrounding the axon is the myelin sheath, which is a layer of fatty tissue and controls the transmission speed of neural impulses from one node to the next. It is in the axon and myelin sheath that the electrical impulses are configured. In the interior fluids of the axon, there is an