Axolemma

From Psychology Wiki

Community portal · Tasks to do · News · Help

Clinical · Educational · Ind&Org · Other fields · Professional · Transpersonal · World

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language
Personality | Philosophy | Research Methods | Social | Statistics

Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology

---

The axolemma is the membrane of a neuron's axon. It is responsible for maintaining the cell's membrane potential, and it contains channels through which ions can flow. This changes the voltage inside the axon and can depolarize or hyperpolarize the cell. Adequate depolarization will lead to an action potential, which will travel down the axon in a self-propagating manner, as more ion channels open due to stimulation by the influx of positive ions.

If the axolemma is damaged, it becomes unable to perform its vital role of maintaining the concentration gradient of ions on the outside of the cell. When these ions rush down their gradient into the cell, they can cause a number of different cellular processes that lead to cellular damage and sometimes death.

[edit] External links

• Dictionary at eMedicine Axolemma
• Histology at Boston University 22802loa

v·d·e Histology: nervous tissue
Neurons (gray matter)	soma, axon (axon hillock, axoplasm, axolemma, neurofibril/neurofilament), dendrite (Nissl body, dendritic spine, apical dendrite, basal dendrite) types (bipolar, pseudounipolar, multipolar, pyramidal, Purkinje, granule)
Afferent nerve/Sensory nerve/Sensory neuron	GSA, GVA, SSA, SVA, fibers (Ia, Ib or Golgi, II or Aβ, III or Aδ or fast pain, IV or C or slow pain)
Efferent nerve/Motor nerve/Motor neuron	GSE, GVE, SVE, Upper motor neuron, Lower motor neuron (α motorneuron, γ motorneuron)
Synapses	neuropil, synaptic vesicle, neuromuscular junction, electrical synapse - Interneuron (Renshaw)
Sensory receptors	Free nerve ending, Meissner's corpuscle, Merkel nerve ending, Muscle spindle, Pacinian corpuscle, Ruffini ending, Olfactory receptor neuron, Photoreceptor cell, Hair cell, Taste bud
Glial cells	astrocyte, oligodendrocyte, ependymal cells, microglia, radial glia
Myelination (white matter)	Schwann cell, oligodendrocyte, nodes of Ranvier, internode, Schmidt-Lanterman incisures, neurolemma
Related connective tissues	epineurium, perineurium, endoneurium, nerve fascicle, meninges

This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Axolemma. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.