Q.Describe the structure of a typical neuron, naming its three main parts and stating one function of each.

Nervous tissue is specialised for receiving a stimulus and rapidly conducting an electrical impulse, made up of neurons (the conducting units) and supporting neuroglia. A typical multipolar neuron has three main parts: the cell body (cyton/soma), containing the nucleus and Nissl granules, acting as the neuron's metabolic centre; dendrites, short branched processes that receive incoming signals and conduct impulses towards the cell body; and the axon, typically one long process (often myelinated by Schwann cells, with nodes of Ranvier) that conducts the impulse away from the cell body towards its terminal synaptic knobs. A synapse is the minute gap between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrite, cell body, or effector cell of the next, across which the impulse is usually relayed chemically by a neurotransmitter.