Mondo Knows Facts
Nerve signals jump between gaps in myelin
Insulation forces the impulse to leap from one node to the next in saltatory conduction Schwann cells in peripheral nerves and oligodendrocytes in the brain wrap axons in fatty layers. Voltage channels cluster at the small uninsulated gaps called nodes of Ranvier. The signal regenerates only at those nodes, which speeds conduction while saving energy. It sits in Mondo's human body collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Tags: myelin, nerves, speed
Nerve signals jump between gaps in myelin: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Insulation forces the impulse to leap from one node to the next in saltatory conduction. The figure is taken from NIGMS, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a human body fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.