nerve cell

noun

Definition of nerve cell

1 : a grayish or reddish granular cell with specialized processes that is the fundamental functional unit of nervous tissue transmitting and receiving nerve impulses : neuron

2 : cell body

Examples of nerve cell in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The condition refers to inflammation of the spinal cord involving the destruction of a fatty white material, known as myelin, that insulates nerve cell fibers. — Thomas M. Burton, WSJ, "Covid-19 Vaccine Trial From AstraZeneca, Oxford Can Resume in U.S.," 23 Oct. 2020 The current theory accepted by neurobiologists is that long-term memories live at synapses, which are the spaces where impulses pass from one nerve cell to another. — Susan Cosier, Scientific American, "Could Memory Traces Exist in Cell Bodies?," 1 May 2015 At the time, most work in the neurodegeneration space focused on the beta-amyloid hypothesis, but Klee and Cohen’s line of thinking was that inflammation played a role in nerve cell death. — Meghana Keshavan, STAT, "Experimental drug for ALS, dreamed up in a dorm room, offers patients glimmer of hope," 2 Sep. 2020 In recent years at Salk, Schubert and Maher developed a novel screening technique to test for naturally occurring chemicals that can prevent the type of nerve cell death found in neuro-degenerative diseases. — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Dave Schubert, Salk scientist who aimed to unlock mysteries of human body, dies at 77," 14 Aug. 2020 Hypothetically, the most efficient connectome would follow a one-to-many design, with each nerve cell connecting to all of the others. — Michele Solis, Scientific American, "How Human Brains Are Different: It Has a Lot to Do with the Connections," 7 July 2020 More than 30 years ago a team of scientists painstakingly traced the connections among each of the 302 nerve cells in the hermaphrodite Caenorhabditis elegans worm. — Karen Weintraub, Scientific American, "Worm Wiring Diagram May Help Us Understand Our Own Nervous System," 3 July 2019 Dopamine, according to Psychology Today, is a neurotransmitter, one of those chemicals that is responsible for transmitting signals between the nerve cells (neurons) of the brain. — Lily Jackson | Ljackson@al.com, al, "How are extroverts finding purpose without people?," 8 May 2020 The animals in this network learned to synchronize the electrical activity of their nerve cells to the same extent as those in a single brain. — Robert Martone, Scientific American, "Scientists Demonstrate Direct Brain-to-Brain Communication in Humans," 29 Oct. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'nerve cell.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Nerve cell.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nerve%20cell. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.

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More Definitions for nerve cell

nerve cell

noun

Kids Definition of nerve cell

: a cell of the nervous system with fibers that carry nerve impulses

nerve cell

noun

Medical Definition of nerve cell

1 : a grayish or reddish granular cell with specialized processes that is the fundamental functional unit of nervous tissue : neuron

2 : cell body

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