BIOL 1002 Chapter : OUTLINE Chap39
Document Summary
We re still dealing with chemical communication within the animal body. There are similarities between hormonal communication and nervous cell communication. Both types of communication make "messenger" chemicals that are released into extracellular spaces. The differences between hormone communication and nervous cell communication: Nerve cell (neuron) structure and function (see fig 39-1): The dendrites are a tangle of fibers that branch from the cell body. They receive information from the environment and convert the information to electrical signals. The cell body receives various signals from dendrites and produces an action potential (output signal). The cell body also coordinates metabolic activity of the cell. The axon is a long thin fiber extending from the cell body. The axon carries the action potentials to output terminals. Initiate and direct the response to the many body parts. Most axons are wrapped with insulating layers of membrane called myelin interrupted at intervals with naked areas called nodes.
