cell body

American  

noun

Biology.

1. the compact area of a nerve cell that constitutes the nucleus and surrounding cytoplasm, excluding the axons and dendrites.

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cell body Scientific  

1. The portion of a neuron that contains the nucleus but does not incorporate the dendrites or axon.

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Etymology

Origin of cell body

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cell body

They move and feed by extending parts of their cell body, a process that gives them their distinctive shape.

From Science Daily ● May 2, 2026

Flip open any neuroscience textbook and the depiction of a neuron will be roughly the same: a blobby, amoebalike cell body shooting out a long, thick strand.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 2, 2024

Importantly, it was able to reveal the features where many synapses dwell: the spines that protrude along the vine-like processes, or dendrites, that grow out of the neuron cell body.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2024

Indeed, every 3-cm increase in axon length is calculated to add more than double the volume of the neuronal cell body to the axon each day.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 29, 2022

Secondly, it is dependent, as we have seen, upon the mechanism of the cell body, and especially the nucleus and centrosome.

From The Story of the Living Machine A Review of the Conclusions of Modern Biology in Regard to the Mechanism Which Controls the Phenomena of Living Activity by Conn, H. W. (Herbert William)