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Friday, 4 April 2014

How do nerve cells transmit signals?

Signal transmission through nerve cells is quite complicated. Like all the other cells, nerve cells also have a cell body with a nucleus. There are fine extended branches known as dendrites and a long 'tail' called the axon on the body of the nerve cells. Axons in the brain are smaller than 1mm,  whereas in the spinal cord they can be as long as 1m. A chemical substance is released through an electrical impulse into the synapses present at the end of the axon. This chemical substance, known as the neurotransmitter, is transferred to the dendrite of another nerve cell and the signal are transmitted.

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