Structure
Neuron
A nerve cell that carries electrical and chemical signals. The human brain has about 86 billion of them.
Neuroscience
Neurons, signals and the brain.
Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system: how the brain and nerves let us sense, think and move.
Neuroscientists study how neurons send electrical signals, how they communicate at synapses, and how networks of neurons produce behavior and memory.
Topics range from ion channels and the Hodgkin-Huxley model of the action potential to synaptic plasticity and the cellular makeup of the brain.
Big questions
- How does a neuron fire?
- How are memories stored?
- How many cells make up a brain?
Key ideas
Open any idea in the knowledge graph to see what it connects to, here and in other fields.
Process
Action potential
A brief electrical pulse that travels along a neuron as sodium and potassium ions flow through channels.
Molecule
Ion channel
A protein pore that lets particular ions cross a membrane. Single channels can be recorded opening and closing.
Structure
Myelin
An insulating sheath around many nerve fibers. Signals jump between the gaps in it, which makes them travel faster.
Process
Synaptic plasticity
Connections between neurons can strengthen with use. Long-term potentiation is a much-studied cellular model of learning and memory.
Structure
Brain
The organ that controls thought, movement and many body functions. It holds neurons and other cells in roughly equal numbers.
Also in Neuroscience
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Current research
Search published papers and preprints in Neuroscience, with clear labels for reviews, primary research, clinical trials and preprints.
Search papers in NeuroscienceSources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Neuroscience (2nd edition) (opens the original in a new tab)
Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, et al. (2001). Sinauer Associates.
Edited textbook, free to read on NCBI Bookshelf.
TextbookEducationalBrain Basics: Know Your Brain (opens the original in a new tab)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. ninds.nih.gov. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducationalA quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve (opens the original in a new tab)
Hodgkin AL, Huxley AF (1952). Journal of Physiology 117:500-544.
The equations behind this site's action potential simulator.
Historical paperPrimary researchBrain Basics: The Life and Death of a Neuron (opens the original in a new tab)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. ninds.nih.gov. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducationalEqual numbers of neuronal and nonneuronal cells make the human brain an isometrically scaled-up primate brain (opens the original in a new tab)
Azevedo FA, Carvalho LR, Grinberg LT, et al. (2009). Journal of Comparative Neurology 513:532-541.
Counted about 86 billion neurons and a similar number of non-neuronal cells in adult male brains.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchSingle-channel currents recorded from membrane of denervated frog muscle fibres (opens the original in a new tab)
Neher E, Sakmann B (1976). Nature 260:799-802.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchThe structure of the potassium channel: molecular basis of K+ conduction and selectivity (opens the original in a new tab)
Doyle DA, Morais Cabral J, Pfuetzner RA, et al. (1998). Science 280:69-77.
Peer-reviewedPrimary researchEvidence for saltatory conduction in peripheral myelinated nerve fibres (opens the original in a new tab)
Huxley AF, Stämpfli R (1949). Journal of Physiology 108:315-339.
Historical paperPrimary researchLong-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path (opens the original in a new tab)
Bliss TV, Lomo T (1973). Journal of Physiology 232:331-356.
Historical paperPrimary research