Schematic Diagram of a Neuron

Nick Wojciechowski: B&B Lab Research Intern/Webmaster/Social Media Director, undergraduate at Dean College

Nick from our lab completed an assignment of creating a homemade model of a neuron for his summer course, Biopsychology, at Dean College. See below for the image and its accompanying caption, which includes a description.

This is a schematic diagram of a neuron.  At the top of the image, we have dendritic branches/dendrites represented by actual tree and pine tree branches.  This is attached to the soma (cell body), which is represented by a camera shutter fidget toy from this year’s BPA (Business Professionals of America) conference.  Within the cell body, we have the nucleus, which was represented by a freeze-dried chocolate-covered raspberry, and a wire outer ring. Also, we have a battery which represents a mitochondrion, or the powerhouse of the neuron.  Attached to the cell body is the axon hillock, which is represented by a charging block cube.  Below this, we have the axon, which is represented by an insulated wire. At various sections along this insulated wire, we stripped the insulation from the wire to expose the copper, which represented the nodes of Ranvier.   At the end of the axon are several axon terminals, which are represented by green wires and hair ties.  Within the axon terminals, we have wasabi peas to represent vesicles of neurotransmitter.  Outside of the axon terminals, we have smashed wasabi peas to represent neurotransmitters released into the synaptic cleft.