saltatory conduction
Nerve impulse jumping
Saltatory conduction is the way electrical signals travel along certain nerve fibers by jumping from gap to gap rather than flowing continuously.
The nerve's insulating sheath forces the signal to leap between exposed nodes, dramatically increasing transmission speed.
Saltatory conduction allows reflexes to happen almost instantaneously.
- axonNeuron's signal-sending projection
- nerve fiberSignal-conducting neural extension
- myelinNerve fiber insulation
- myelin sheathLipid layer around axons
- nodesPoints of connection
impulse · nerve · action potential · electrical impulse · membrane · depolarization · sodium · channels · sheath · synapse · neuron · signal · propagation · insulation · voltage · threshold · refractory · potassium
- neuroscienceneuron, MRI, brain, neurons, synapses
- bioelectricityaction potential, depolarization, repolarization, hyperpolarization, axon
- conduction types
- nerve signalsaction potential, nerve impulses, nerve impulse, nerve signals, neural activity
- gliaastrocyte, astrocytes, microglia, neuroglia, radial glia
- myelinmyelin sheath, myelin basic protein, myelination, demyelination
salty, saltiness, salted, salting, salient, salmon, conduct, conduction, conductive