Wednesday, March 7, 2012

What is the difference between a Neuron cell and a basic generic cell that we learn about in science class?

I need to write a paper that compares a neuron cell and a generic cell that is presented in every science class. i was going to talk about their different functions, looks and parts that each has. i am just wondering if there's anything specific i should put down. Any help?What is the difference between a Neuron cell and a basic generic cell that we learn about in science class?
So a more academic description would be to speak of it as a somatic cell compared to a neuron. Both have a nucleus holding genetic information. Both are involved in metabolism. But a neuron is called an excitable cell. The mechanism is called an "action potential".

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/00鈥?/a>

Although somatic cell's mechanisms involve ions (electrical), they are not excitable.

Another difference is that neurons do not divide.

The longest neuron is approx. 3 ft. long.

A typical neuron possesses a cell body (often called the soma), dendrites, and an axon. Dendrites are thin structures that arise from the cell body, often extending for hundreds of micrometres and branching multiple times, giving rise to a complex "dendritic tree". An axon is a special cellular extension that arises from the cell body at a site called the axon hillock and travels for a distance, as far as 1 m in humans or even more in other species. The cell body of a neuron frequently gives rise to multiple dendrites, but never to more than one axon, although the axon may branch hundreds of times before it terminates. At the majority of synapses, signals are sent from the axon of one neuron to a dendrite of another. There are, however, many exceptions to these rules: neurons that lack dendrites, neurons that have no axon, synapses that connect an axon to another axon or a dendrite to another dendrite, etc.

All neurons are electrically excitable, maintaining voltage gradients across their membranes by means of metabolically driven ion pumps, which combine with ion channels embedded in the membrane to generate intracellular-versus-extracellular concentration differences of ions such as sodium, potassium, chloride, and calcium. Changes in the cross-membrane voltage can alter the function of voltage-dependent ion channels. If the voltage changes by a large enough amount, an all-or-none electrochemical pulse called an action potential is generated, which travels rapidly along the cell's axon, and activates synaptic connections with other cells when it arrives.
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