Download How To Make a Neuron Model

How To Make a Neuron Model
1. Take one pipe cleaner and roll it into a ball. This is will be the
cell body.
2. Take another pipe cleaner and attach it to the new "cell body"
by pushing it through the ball so there are two halves sticking
out. Take the two halves and twist them together into a single
extension. This will be the axon.
3. Take other pipe cleaners and push them through the "cell
body" on the side opposite the axon. These are dendrites.
These can be shorter than your axon and you can twist more
pipe cleaners to make more dendrites.
4. Wrap small individual pipe cleaners along the length of the
axon. These will represent the myelin sheath.
5. Wrap another pipe cleaner on the end of the axon. This will
be the synaptic terminal.
Neurons
Neurons are cells in your brain that connect to lots of other
neurons and send messages around the body through the
nervous system.
Neurons (also called nerve cells) are electrically excitable
cells - with information travelling down the axon by
shuffling of ions (charged particles). At synapses
(connections with other neurons) chemical transmission is
used, with molecules moving between the neurons across
the synaptic cleft.
A typical neuron consists of 3 parts:
Dendrites are lots of branches from the cell body that
receive signals from other neurons.
The axon is very thin and conducts electrical impulses
away from the cell body, towards the axon terminal
where the neuron forms synapses with other neurons.
In vertebrates, the axon is insulated by a sheath of
myelin. Essentially myelin makes the messages travel
faster.