Activity-dependent Plasticity - Structure of Neuron

Structure of Neuron

Neurons are the basic functional unit of the brain and process and transmit information through signals. Many different types of neurons exist, such as sensory neurons, motor neurons, inter neurons, and sound neurons. Each respond to specific stimuli and send respective and appropriate chemical signals to other regions to distribute the information. The basic structure of a neuron is shown here on the right and consists of a nucleus that contains genetic information; the cell body, or the soma, that has dendritic branches that receive information; a long, thin axon that extends to the axon terminal; and an axon terminal where branching dendrites send information. The dendrites give and receive information through a small gap called a synapse. This component of the neuron contains a variety of chemical messengers and proteins that allow for the transmission of information. It is the variety of proteins and affect of the signal that fundamentally lead to the plasticity feature.