BIOL273 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Astrocyte, Myosin Light-Chain Kinase, Homeostasis
10 Jun 2014
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Document Summary
Autonomic neurons are further divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. The nervous system is composed primarily of two cell types: glial cells ( support cells ) and nerve cells/neurons (the basic signaling units of the nervous system) The central nervous system has four types of glial support cells: oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and ependymal cells: astrocytes are highly branched cells which transfer nutrients between neurons and blood vessels, microglia are specialized immune cells which reside permanently within the cns, and remove damaged cells and foreign invaders, ependymal cells are epithelial cells that create a selectively permeable barrier between compartments in the brain, schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system and oligodendrocytes in the cns support and insulate axons by creating myelin (multiple concentric layers of phospholipids membrane, myelin forms when these glial cells wrap around an axon and they squeeze out the glial cytoplasm to form membrane layers.
