myelin
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əBased on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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myelin or myeline (ˈmaɪɪlɪn, ˈmaɪɪˌliːn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| a white tissue forming an insulating sheath (myelin sheath) around certain nerve fibres. Damage to the myelin sheath causes neurological disease, as in multiple sclerosis | |
| myeline or myeline | |
| —n | |
| mye'linic or myeline | |
| —adj | |
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| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
myelin
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myelin my·e·lin (mī'ə-lĭn) or my·e·line (-lĭn, -lēn')
n.
A white fatty material composed chiefly of alternating layers of lipids and lipoproteins that encloses the axons of myelinated nerve fibers.
Droplets of lipid formed during autolysis and postmortem decomposition.
my'e·lin'ic adj.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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| myelin (mī'ə-lĭn) Pronunciation Key
A whitish, fatty substance that forms a sheath around many vertebrate nerve fibers. Myelin insulates the nerves and permits the rapid transmission of nerve impulses. The white matter of the brain is composed of nerve fibers covered in myelin. |
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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myelin
white, insulating sheath composed of fatty materials, protein, and water on the axon of many nerve fibres. The myelin sheath is deposited by Schwann cells in layers surrounding the nerve fibres of the central and peripheral nervous systems of many organisms. The sheath is interrupted at intervals by gaps called nodes of Ranvier; this structure speeds nerve conduction, as impulses jump from node to node in a process known as saltatory conduction.
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