Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Saltatory conduction
Saltatory conduction is a means by which action potentials are transmitted along myelinated nerve fibers.
Because the salty cytoplasm of the axon is electrically conductive, and because the myelin inhibits charge leakage through the membrane, depolarization at one node of Ranvier is sufficient to elevate the voltage at a neighboring node to the threshold for action potential initiation. Thus in myelinated axons, action potentials do not propagate as waves, but recur at successive nodes and in effect hop along the axon, by which process they travel faster than they would otherwise.
sal.ta.to.ry \'sal-t*-.to-r-e-, 'so.l-, -.to.r-\ aj 1: of or relating to
dancing {the ~ art} 2: proceeding by leaps rather than by gradual
transitions : DISCONTINUOUS
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details