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Grey matter
Grey matter (or gray matter) is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of nerve cell bodies, glial cells (astroglia and oligodendrocytes), capillaries, and short nerve cell extensions/processes (axons and dendrites). Additional recommended knowledge
CompositionIt is composed of cell bodies as opposed to white matter (cell axons). It has a grey brown color which comes from the capillary blood vessels and the neuronal cell bodies. DistributionGrey matter is distributed at the surface of the cerebral hemispheres (cerebral cortex) and of the cerebellum (cerebellar cortex), as well as in the depth of the cerebral (thalamus; hypothalamus; subthalamus, basal ganglia - putamen, globus pallidus, nucleus accumbens; septal nuclei), cerebellar (deep cerebellar nuclei - dentate nucleus, globose nucleus, emboliform nucleus, fastigial nucleus), brainstem (substantia nigra, red nucleus, olivary nuclei, cranial nerve nuclei) and spinal grey matter (anterior horn, lateral horn, posterior horn). FunctionThe function of grey matter is to route sensory or motor stimulus to interneurons of the CNS in order to create a response to the stimulus through chemical synapse activity. Research has shown that the amount of grey matter in a brain is positively correlated with human intelligence[1], except in the case of those with autism spectrum disorders[2]. Grey matter structures (cortex, deep nuclei) process information originating in the sensory organs or in other grey matter regions. This information is conveyed via specialized nerve cell extensions (long axons), which form the bulk of the cerebral, cerebellar, and spinal white matter. References
See also
Categories: Neuroanatomy | Central nervous system |
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grey_matter". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |