What is Nervous tissue?
Nervous tissue is the tissue that makes up the brain, spinal cord, and the major nerves running throughout the body.
Nervous tissue in the human body
Taking the cup of hot coffee away when you burn your tongue or taking your hand off a hot object are spontaneous reactions that are governed by the nervous tissue in our body. The function of the nervous tissue is also to control a few processes inside our body, without us really noticing it.
What are Neurons?
The nervous tissue is made up of cells called Neurons, which allow the tissues to transmit signals rapidly throughout the body.
3 Parts of a typical neuron:
Parts of a typical neuron
- Soma: It is the central structure of a typical neuron. This cell body contains the components required for the proper functioning of the cell, including the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria,
Soma in a neuron
- Dendrites: These are short branches for receiving and transmitting signals from the other neurons.
- Axon: To transmit the signals, the neurons have a long, slender projection, called the axon.
The axon passes on the signal in the form of an electrical impulse to the next neuron.
It has a covering around itself with breaks at regular intervals to transmit the impulses faster. These are called ‘Myelin sheaths’ and the breaks in between are referred to as the ‘Nodes of Ranvier’. These breaks enable the signal to jump, allowing it to travel faster.
Axon in a neuron
What are the different types of neurons?
The three main types of neurons:
Different types of neurons
- Multipolar neuron – It shows a single axon and many
- Bipolar neuron – In this type of neuron, one single dendrite gives rise to many other dendrites. On the other side, there is a single
- Unipolar neuron – In a unipolar neuron, the soma is centrally located at one side. There is a long, continuous process bearing dendrites at one end, and axon at the
The different types of neurons together make up the nervous system that controls every system and organ in our body.