The thin, elongated part of a neuron (nerve cell) that conducts nerve impulses. Many axons in the body are covered with a fatty myelin sheath.
Nerve ?bre: an elongated projection of a nerve cell or NEURON(E) that carries an electrical impulse to the tissue at the end of the axon.
Large axons are covered by a sheath of insulating myelin which is interrupted at intervals by nodes of Lanvier, where other axons branch out. An axon may be more than a metre long. It ends by branching into several ?laments called telodendria, and these are in contact with muscle or gland membranes and other nerves (see NERVE).
n. a nerve fibre: a single process extending from the cell body of a *neuron and carrying nerve impulses away from it. An axon may be over a metre in length in certain neurons. In large nerves the axon has a sheath (neurilemma) made of *myelin; this is interrupted at intervals by gaps called nodes of Ranvier, at which branches of the axon leave. An axon ends by dividing into several branches called telodendria, which make contact with other nerves or with muscle or gland membranes.
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