Does Modern Lifestyle Favor Neuroimmunometabolic Changes? A Path to Obesity

The illustration details the anatomy of a neural cell as well as the respective functions of all of its constituent parts. Overall, each cell or ‘neuron’ comprises two key components: a cell body that issues information and a sophisticated system of tentacle-like wires that facilitate the delivery of this information. The central part of each nerve cell is the cell body, called ‘soma. ’ From the soma sprouts many ‘dendrites’ which make up the network through which information from neighboring cells is transmitted to. The dendrites themselves are made up of miniscule cords call ‘axon’, which are responsible for delivering messages from the cell that they stem from to other parts of the human body, namely to other neurons, muscles or glands. The ‘axons’ are enveloped in a protective cover called the ‘myelin sheath’ (denoted in the diagram as a series of connected transparent capsules) which not only shield the axon but also accelerate neural impulses. The information that the cell body transmits is termed ‘action potential’, which is essentially an electrical signal that travels along the axon to other cells. Cells make contact through a web of ‘terminal buttons’ at the end of the axon, and this is how neurons are interconnected and information traverses the human body.