Library / English Dictionary |
MEDULLARY SHEATH
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A layer of myelin encasing (and insulating) the axons of medullated nerve fibers
Synonyms:
medullary sheath; myelin sheath
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("medullary sheath" is a kind of...):
case; sheath (an enveloping structure or covering enclosing an animal or plant organ or part)
Meronyms (parts of "medullary sheath"):
axolemma (outer membrane covering an axon)
nodes of Ranvier; Ranvier's nodes (small gaps in the myelin sheath of medullated axons)
oligodendria; oligodendroglia (tissue consisting of glial cells with sheetlike processes that form the myelin sheath of nerve fibers)
Meronyms (substance of "medullary sheath"):
medulla; myelin; myeline (a white fatty substance that forms a medullary sheath around the axis cylinder of some nerve fibers)
Holonyms ("medullary sheath" is a part of...):
medullated nerve fiber; myelinated nerve fiber (a nerve fiber encased in a sheath of myelin)