myelin

[mahy-uh-lin]

noun Biology.

a soft, white, fatty material in the membrane of Schwann cells and certain neuroglial cells: the substance of the myelin sheath.

Also my·e·line

[mahy-uh-leen] /ˈmaɪ əˌlin/.

Origin of myelin

First recorded in 1865–70; myel- + -in²

Related formsmy·e·lin·ic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for myelin

Contemporary Examples of myelin

In MS, the amount and quality of myelin is abnormal, replaced by “sclerotic” plaques, the hallmark of the disease.
Can NASCAR Driver Trevor Bayne Race Safely With Multiple Sclerosis?
Kent Sepkowitz
November 13, 2013

Historical Examples of myelin

Alveolar cells commonly contain fat-droplets and, less frequently, myelin globules.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis
James Campbell Todd
Between the neurolemma and the axis cylinder is the medullated sheath, composed of a fatty substance known as myelin.
Manual of Surgery
Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles

British Dictionary definitions for myelin

myelin

myeline (ˈmaɪɪˌliːn)

noun

a white tissue forming an insulating sheath (myelin sheath) around certain nerve fibres. Damage to the myelin sheath causes neurological disease, as in multiple sclerosis

Derived Formsmyelinic, adjective

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

Word Origin and History for myelin

also myeline, "soft material found in nerve tissues," 1867, from German Myelin (1854), from Greek myelos "marrow; the brain, innermost part," of unknown origin.

myelin in Medicine

myelin

[mī′ə-lĭn]

n.

A white fatty material composed chiefly of alternating layers of lipids and lipoproteins that encloses the axons of myelinated nerve fibers.

Droplets of lipid formed during autolysis and postmortem decomposition.

Related formsmy′e•lin′ic adj.

myelin in Science

myelin

[mī′ə-lĭn]

A whitish, fatty substance that forms a sheath around many vertebrate nerve fibers. Myelin insulates the nerves and permits the rapid transmission of nerve impulses. The white matter of the brain is composed of nerve fibers covered in myelin.