Mauthner Cell
The Mauthner Cells are a pair of big and easily identifiable neurons (one for each half of the body) located in the rhombomere 4 of the hindbrain in fish and amphibians that are responsible for a very fast escape reflex (in the majority of animals - a so-called C-start response). The cells are also notable for their unusual use of both chemical and electrical synapses.
Read more about Mauthner Cell: Evolutionary History, Plasticity, History of Research
Famous quotes containing the word cell:
“In America all too few blows are struck into flesh. We kill the spirit here, we are experts at that. We use psychic bullets and kill each other cell by cell.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)