Mauthner Cell
The Mauthner Cells are a pair of big and easily identifiable neurons (one for each half of the body) located in the rhombomere 4 of the hindbrain in fish and amphibians that are responsible for a very fast escape reflex (in the majority of animals - a so-called C-start response). The cells are also notable for their unusual use of both chemical and electrical synapses.
Read more about Mauthner Cell: Evolutionary History, Plasticity, History of Research
Famous quotes containing the word cell:
“Let man consider what he is in comparison with all existence; let him regard himself as lost in this remote corner of nature; and from the little cell in which he finds himself lodged, I mean the universe, let him estimate at their true value the earth, kingdoms, cities, and himself. What is a man in the infinite?”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)