node of Ranvier

American

[rahn-vyay, rahn-vyay] / rɑnˈvjeɪ, ˈrɑn vjeɪ /

noun

Cell Biology.

a gap occurring at regular intervals between segments of myelin sheath along a nerve axon.

node of Ranvier British

/ ˈrɑːnvɪˌeɪ /

noun

any of the gaps that occur at regular intervals along the length of the sheath of a myelinated nerve fibre, at which the axon is exposed

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of node of Ranvier

1880–85; after Louis-Antoine Ranvier (1835–1922), French histologist, who described it in 1878

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

node of Ranvier

Surrounding the node of Ranvier is a glial cell called an astrocyte.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 12, 2020

The myelin sheath is attached to the axon by a spiral junction flanking the node of Ranvier.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 12, 2020

If the node were any farther down the axon, that depolarization would have fallen off too much for voltage-gated Na+ channels to be activated at the next node of Ranvier.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

Each gap is called a node of Ranvier and is important to the way that electrical signals travel down the axon.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

This point is known as the node of Ranvier.

From A Practical Physiology by Albert F. Blaisdell

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023