: the nucleus-containing central part of a neuron exclusive of its axons and dendrites that is the major structural element of the gray matter of the brain and spinal cord, the ganglia, and the retina see neuron illustration
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebThe cell body contains structures and organelles (’mini-organs’ inside the neuron) that keep it alive and carry out various cellular and genetic processes. Gabriel A. Silva, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 At the front are the dendrites, spidery and often dense projections that all converge and meet at the cell body. Gabriel A. Silva, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 By definition, such cells are proficient at concentrating gene products into vesicles and then removing them from the cell body through secretion.Quanta Magazine, 16 Aug. 2021 The dendrites transmit signals to the neuron’s cell body, where the signals are integrated.Quanta Magazine, 18 Feb. 2021 The reconstructed map, described today in Nature, showed that while one type of bipolar cell connects to the amacrine cells' filaments close to the cell body, another does do so farther away along the length of the filaments. Mo Costandi, Scientific American, 5 May 2014 Those signals would then get combined in the cell body, which would determine how the neuron as a whole would respond.Quanta Magazine, 14 Jan. 2020 Gray matter, on the other hand, is the pinkish-gray tissue rich in neuronal cell bodies. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 24 July 2019 So the microbe must somehow get the electrons out of its cell body and attach them to rust particles.New York Times, 1 July 2019 See More
Word History
First Known Use
1878, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
cell body
noun
: the nucleus-containing central part of a neuron exclusive of its axons and dendrites that is the major structural element of the gray matter of the brain and spinal cord, the ganglia, and the retina