Always a part of you

Cultured Neuron This is a single neuron which has been grown in a petri dish. The lump at the far end is the cell body. The flat part spread out at the closer end is the growth cone area, a part of the neuron that is trying to find the cell(s) it's supposed to make a synapse with. The skinny part in between is the axon. The little hairs sticking up from the cell body are possibly forming dendrites. This is technically a neurosecretory cell. Instead of making a synapse on another nerve cell, it would form neurosecretory terminals next to a blood vessel. With the right signal, it would then release a neurohormone into the blood to be carried to a target organ. Your pituitary gland works this way. This neurosecretory cell came from a crab.

 

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