cell body
Noun
Meaning
(biology) A cell of a unicellular organism, constituting its entire body.
(cytology) The main body of a cell, containing its nucleus and organelles (as opposed to various projections or elements of external structure such as cell wall, flagella, dendrites, etc.).
(neurology) The nucleus-containing central part of a neuron exclusive of its axons and dendrites that is the major structural element of the gray matter of the brain and spinal cord, the ganglia, and the retina.
Synonyms: neurocyton, perikaryon, soma
Synonyms
Examples
A protoplasmic fiber runs from the cell body and branches profusely, with some parts transmitting signals and other parts receiving signals.
A typical neuron is divided into three parts: the soma or cell body, dendrites, and axon.
An axon (also called a nerve fiber when myelinated ) is a special cellular extension (process) that arises from the cell body at a site called the axon hillock and travels for a distance, as far as 1 meter in humans or even more in other species.
Dendrites are one of two types of protoplasmic protrusions that extrude from the cell body of a neuron, the other type being an axon.
Dendrites contain granular endoplasmic reticulum or ribosomes, in diminishing amounts as the distance from the cell body increases.
Harvard sleep researchers Saper citation and Stickgold citation point out that an essential part of memory and learning consists of nerve cell dendrites ' sending of information to the cell body to be organized into new neuronal connections.