ABSTRACT
A nerve is a bundle of conducting cells that transmits impulses from the brain or spinal cord to the muscle and glands (motor nerves) or inward from the sense organs to the spinal cord and brain (sensory nerves). A nerve is part of the nervous system and its function is to coordinate, with the endocrine system, the activities of other body systems. e nervous
10.6.7 Surface EMG 229 10.6.8 Systems for Recording Nerve and Muscle Activities 230
10.7 Evoked Potentials and Conduction Velocity 230 10.7.1 Evoked Potentials 230 10.7.2 Nerve Conduction Velocity 231 10.7.3 Collision Techniques 232 10.7.4 Muscle Fiber Conduction Velocity 234
10.8 Summary 235 Acknowledgments 235 References 235
system is composed of two principal categories of cells: neurons and neuroglia (glial cells). Neurons are the basic units and neuroglia cells are supportive cells aiding the function of neurons. All neurons have three principal components: a cell body, dendrites, and an axon. e cell body contains the nucleus and the machinery for protein synthesis. e dendrites respond to specic stimuli and conduct impulse to the cell body. e axon or nerve ber is relatively long and conducts impulses away from the cell body. e main axon has branches, called collaterals, and each branch ends in an axon terminal responsible for releasing neurotransmitters. us, peripheral nerve refers to axons that run from the spinal cord to dierent muscles. e functional classication of neurons is based on the direction of conduction. Sensory or aerent neurons convey information from the tissues into the CNS, and motor or eerent neurons transmit impulses from the CNS to the eector cells, for example, muscles. Association neurons or interneurons connect neurons within the CNS. However, most nerves are composed of both motor and sensory neurons and are thus called mixed nerves.
