Axon

A long slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's cell body.

An axon is a long process of a neuron (or nerve cell) involved in the conduction of nerve impulse away from the cell body. Each nerve cell has one axon, which can be over a foot long. A nerve cell communicates with another nerve cell by transmitting signals from the branches at the end of its axon. At the terminal end of the axon, the impulses are transmitted to other nerve cells or to effector organs.

Neurons cannot properly communicate if axons are damaged or broken. This can happen with nerve injury, and also in the earliest stages of neurodegenerative diseases such as motor neurone disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.