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RE: How do nerves conduct electrical impulses?

in #science7 years ago

See, I always thought of them as wires. Having MS, I always thought of nerves as wires, with the attacked myelin sheath being the insulator for the charge or signal. Thank you for the explanation, happy to learn more each day.

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Thinking of a nerve as a wire can be useful in understanding what they do, but not how they do it! The myelin sheath does insulate a neurone, but it's main function is to increase the speed of conduction of impulses along the neurone. This is why demyelination can have bad effects, it slows down the speed at which nerves conduct!

Thank you for that. I'm learning more each day.