PSYC 370 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Schwann Cell, Prefrontal Cortex, Synaptic Pruning
20 Feb 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The prefrontal cortex is not fully myelinated until later in life! As the function of the area increases in complexity, those are the later developing areas. More complex areas develop later so prefrontal cortex is pretty complex as it develops late. All your executive functions go on in the prefrontal cortex. - which is the last area to mature. Images depicting different types of myelination: this goes on inside the cns. Myelination is done by oligodendrocytes (a type of glial cell). They set up these foot processes the foot wraps around axons that are in the vicinity! The nodes are made up of the foot processes of the oligodendrocytes. a single oligodendrocyte myelinates two separate axons this is how the axons can stay together and travel in bundles. The fibre tracts that course through the brain therefore have increased stability: in the pns, there are no oligodendrocytes. Instead there are schwann cells to myelinate axons.
