Neuropil
You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.
Neuropil is the feltwork of unmyelinated neuronal processes (axonal and dendritic) within the gray matter of the central nervous system.
Traditionally, when pathologists look at brain tissue they concentrate on neurons, glial cells and axons (especially in white matter, which is mostly composed of axons and glial cells). Neurons are the cells that perform the actual processing of information. Glial cells have 'supporting' functions in a very loose sense of the word. Also, most brain tumors arise from glial cells.
On a coarse scale, nervous tissue (ignoring blood vessels etc.) is composed of the cell bodies of neurons and glial cells and their processes or protrusions. For neurons, these are dendrites, dendritic spines and axons. Dendrites collect input from other neurons, which is processed by the neuron (in both its dendrites and its cell body) and propagated to other cells via axons, which act as long-distance cables. At the end of an axon synapses are formed, serving as chemical junctions to other cells.
The neuropil is what is left when you take away the cell bodies of neurons and glia of gray matter, i.e. the tangle of dendrites, axons and glial processes. White matter is generally not considered to be a part of the neuropil.
References
- Neuropil: Roche Encyclopedia of Medicine, Dictionary Barn.
External links
- MeSH Neuropil
- Histology at Boston University 04104loa - "Nervous Tissue and Neuromuscular Junction: spinal cord, cell bodies of anterior horn cells"
- Histology at OU 3_08
Etymological note: "From the Greek neuro and pilus, meaning felt" (Freeman, Walter J. How Brains Make up their Minds , 2000, p. 47)
de:NeuropilAcknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
