While some treatments may help to modify the course of the disease and manage certain symptoms, there is currently no known cure for multiple sclerosis. The resulting interference in the electrical signal prevents the quick transmittal of information by neurons and can lead to a number of symptoms, such as dizziness, fatigue, loss of motor control, and sexual dysfunction. Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disorder, involves a large-scale loss of the myelin sheath on axons throughout the nervous system. To understand how this works, let’s consider an example.
The myelin sheath is crucial for the normal operation of the neurons within the nervous system: the loss of the insulation it provides can be detrimental to normal function. In some axons, glial cells form a fatty substance known as the myelin sheath, which coats the axon and acts as an insulator, increasing the speed at which the signal travels. The terminal buttons contain synaptic vesicles that house neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers of the nervous system.Īxons range in length from a fraction of an inch to several feet. These signals are transmitted electrically across the soma and down a major extension from the soma known as the axon, which ends at multiple terminal buttons. The neuron is a small information processor, and dendrites serve as input sites where signals are received from other neurons. The soma has branching extensions known as dendrites. The nucleus of the neuron is located in the soma, or cell body. This illustration shows a prototypical neuron, which is being myelinated. This membrane allows smaller molecules and molecules without an electrical charge to pass through it, while stopping larger or highly charged molecules. A neuron’s outer surface is made up of a semipermeable membrane. Like all cells, neurons consist of several different parts, each serving a specialized function ( Figure). Neurons are the central building blocks of the nervous system, 100 billion strong at birth.
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