Axon

High school (ages 12+)
Human Body

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/axon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the conduction mechanism?Transmits action potentials, often via saltatory conduction in myelinated axons
2. What is the clinical relevance?Axonal dysfunction or degeneration is implicated in numerous neurological disorders
3. Why do some axons have a myelin sheath?The myelin sheath, made by glial cells, wraps around the axon and speeds up signals by letting them jump between nodes of Ranvier.
4. How long can axons be?Axons can be as short as a few millimeters or as long as over a meter, letting them travel long distances in the nervous system.

Action Potential: A rapid, transient change in the electrical potential across the membrane of a neuron or muscle cell.
Saltatory Conduction: The propagation of action potentials along myelinated axons from one node of Ranvier to the next.
Synaptic Transmission: The process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal of a neuron and bind to and activate the receptors of another cell.