A nerve cell, consisting of cell body or soma and processes, that collects incoming or afferent information (via the dendrites), and transports outgoing or efferent information (via the axon). Thehuman brain has some 100 billion neurons in many different sizes and shapesdepending on their respective functions, with the smallest neurons having cellbodies just 4 microns wide (1 micron = 1000th of a millimeter). Despite such variability, neurons can beclassified into one of three major types: motoneuron, sensory neuron andinterneuron. Typically, neurons have 1,000 to 10,000 synapses and axons that can vary in length from 3 micrometers to more than meter (thus,each neuron can communicate with 1-10,000 other neurons, muscle cells, glandsetc.). Often neuron is confused with nerve, the latter having no cell body and which is made up of bundles of axons. The anatomist Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried Waldeyer-Hartz (1836-1921) first used the term ‘neuron’ in about 1891.
See Astrocyte, Axon, Brain (or encephalon), Cell assemblies, Cell theory, Centrifugal/centripetal, Cerebral cortex (or pallium), Dendrite, Dorsal root ganglia (DRG), Human Connectome Project (HCP), Interneurons, MECP2 gene, Mirror neurons, Monosynaptic and polysynaptic reflexes, Neuroblasts, Neuron doctrine, Neuroscience, Nissl substance, Neurite, Nodes of Ranvier, Processing units, Receptive field, Synapse