54 results about "Myelin" patented technology

Myelin is a lipid-rich (fatty) substance that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system’s wires) to insulate them and increase the rate at which information (encoded as electrical impulses) is passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be likened to an electrical wire (the axon) with insulating material (myelin) around it. However, unlike the plastic covering on an electrical wire, myelin does not form a single long sheath over the entire length of the axon. Rather, each myelin sheath insulates the axon over a single long section and, in general, each axon comprises multiple long myelinated sections separated from each other by short gaps called nodes of Ranvier. Myelin is formed in the central nervous system (CNS) by glial cells called oligodendrocytes, and in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) by glial cells called Schwann cells. In the CNS, axons carry electrically encoded information from one nerve cell body to another. In the PNS, axons carry information to muscles and glands, or from sensory organs such as the skin. Each myelin sheath is formed by the concentric wrapping of an oligodendrocyte (CNS) or Schwann cell (PNS) process (a limb-like extension from the cell body) around the axon (reviewed recently in Stassart et al., 2018 and Stadelmann et al., 2019 ).