Grey matter plays a significant role in allowing humans to function normally as it allows us to control our movements, retain memories, and regulate our emotions, among many other functions. Grey matter is therefore essential for all most aspects of human life. Grey matter is formed in early development from ectoderm.
What are the functions of gray matter?
- memory,
- emotions,
- speech,
- self-control,
- decision making,
- seeing,
- hearing, etc.
What is the difference between grey matter and white matter?
White vs Gray Matter
- Components. White matter is mainly comprised of bundles of myelinated axons, also known as tracts. ...
- Color. The most noticeable difference between the white and the gray matter is their color. ...
- Location. ...
- Development. ...
- Percentage. ...
- Function. ...
What does gray matter primarily contain?
The grey matter is mainly composed of neuronal cell bodies and unmyelinated axons. Axons are the processes that extend from neuronal cell bodies, carrying signals between those bodies. In the grey matter, these axons are mainly unmyelinated, meaning they are not covered by a whitish-colored, fatty protein called myelin.
Is gray matter good for the brain?
Your brain is the centre of control in your body. All your activities are coordinated and executed with the help of your brain. It is the grey matter of the brain that controls the memory, the senses, emotions, speech as well as impulse control. An increased amount of grey matter improves IQ and increases the brain’s efficiency.
Why is white and grey matter important?
Together, the gray and white matter of your brain and spinal cord help form spinal tracts. These pathways send nerve signals from your brain to the rest of your body. Knowing the most common tracts can help you discern the source of your injury.
What does gray matter in the brain mean?
Grey matter contains most of the brain's neuronal cell bodies. The grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, and sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision making, and self-control.
What happens if grey matter is reduced?
Aside from a loss in cognitive functioning, grey matter decline can lead to motor function issues such as losing control of fine motor skills. The decrease in motor function could contribute to the uncontrollable shaking that is a symptom of Parkinson's Disease.
Is more gray matter good?
"There is a constant cascade of information being processed in the entire brain, but intelligence seems related to an efficient use of relatively few structures, where the more grey matter the better," he says.
What is Grey Matter?
The central nervous system is made up of tissue known as grey matter and white matter. Grey matter (or gray matter) makes up the outermost layer of the brain and is pinkish grey in tone, hence the name grey matter.
What Grey Matter Consists of
Grey matter consists of neuronal cell bodies (known as soma), which are circular structures that house the nucleus of the cells. In the cerebrum, estimated cell numbers vary from 10 billion to more than 50 billion neurons.
Function
Grey matter serves to process information in the brain. The structures within the grey matter process signals from the sensory organs or from other areas of the grey matter. This tissue directs sensory stimuli to the neurons in the central nervous system where synapses induce a response to the stimuli.
Grey Matter Disorders
As grey matter covers many areas of the central nervous system and is the outermost layer to the brain specifically, this makes it susceptible to being damaged.
How to Strengthen Grey Matter
For those who have experienced damage to their grey mater, perhaps from trauma, young infants and children often have the better outcomes than adults.
What is the function of grey matter?
Function. Grey matter contains most of the brain's neuronal cell bodies. The grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, and sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision making, and self-control.
What is gray matter?
Grey matter (or gray matter) is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil ( dendrites and unmyelinated axons ), glial cells ( astrocytes and oligodendrocytes ), synapses, and capillaries. Grey matter is distinguished from white matter in that it contains numerous cell ...
What is grisea in Latin?
In the current edition of the official Latin nomenclature, Terminologia Anatomica, substantia grisea is used for English grey matter. The adjective grisea for grey is however not attested in classical Latin. The adjective grisea is derived from the French word for grey, gris.
What are the layers of the grey matter of the spinal cord called?
The grey matter of the spinal cord can be divided into different layers, called Rexed laminae. These describe, in general, the purpose of the cells within the grey matter of the spinal cord at a particular location. Rexed laminae groups the grey matter in the spinal cord according to its function.
What is the grey matter on the left side of the spinal cord?
The grey matter on the left and right side is connected by the grey commissure. The grey matter in the spinal cord consists of interneurons, as well as the cell bodies of projection neurons .
How is grey matter different from white matter?
Grey matter is distinguished from white matter in that it contains numerous cell bodies and relatively few myelinated axons, while white matter contains relatively few cell bodies and is composed chiefly of long-range myelinated axons. The colour difference arises mainly from the whiteness of myelin.
Where is the lateral grey column?
The lateral grey column is the third column of the spinal cord. The grey matter of the spinal cord can be divided into different layers, called Rexed laminae.
What is gray matter?
It is known as gray matter or gray matter to the element that constitutes certain areas of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) of characteristic gray color, composed of neuronal bodies (the “body” of neurons) and dendrites devoid of myelin, together with glial cells or neuroglia.
Gray matter function
Through neural connections, gray matter fulfills mental and cognitive functions.
Location of gray matter
Gray matter is found on the entire brain surface, as it makes up the cortex of the brain, the most developed, complex and most connected area of our entire nervous system. It is also found in the basal ganglia, deep in the cerebellum, and in the areas of the thalamus and hypothalamus.
Importance of gray matter
Thanks to gray matter, complex, creative and abstract thought patterns emerged.
Gray matter and white matter
Gray matter differs from white matter in much more than its color, determined by the high presence of dendrites with myelin in the latter (myelin is whitish in color).
Why do teens lose gray matter?
Teens have a stronger reaction to emotions and situations than do adults. This has to do with the signaling of the reward system of the brain that motivates our behavior.
Where do we form thoughts and memories?
The cortex is where we form thoughts and memories. The amount of gray matter increases during childhood and then declines. Scientists thought that the amount of gray matter was highest in very young children, and that the volume of gray matter fell as the child grew. Imaging scans found something very different.
What is gray matter?
In contrast, gray matter is mostly neuron cell bodies and non-neuron brain cells called glial cells. These glial cells provide nutrients and energy to neurons. They help transport glucose into the brain, clean the brain ...
Why do neurons have grayish cells?
They help transport glucose into the brain, clean the brain of excess chemicals and may even affect the intensity of the neurons' communications. Because these cells are not surrounded by white myelin, they take on the natural grayish color of the neurons and glial cells.
What is the difference between the white and grey?
The stuff between our ears comes in two shades: white and grey. The difference between the two is all in the fat content. The white matter of the brain is made up primarily of axon tracts, the long, spindly appendages of some brain cells. These tracts transmit the electrical signals that the brain cells, called neurons, use to communicate.
Where is white matter found?
White matter is buried deep in the brain, while gray matter is mostly found on the brain's surface, or cortex. The spinal cord, which transmits nerve impulses to and from the rest of the body, has the opposite arrangement: gray matter at its core with insulating white matter on the outside.
What is the layer of the brain that insulates the axons?
These tracts transmit the electrical signals that the brain cells, called neurons, use to communicate. They're wrapped in a fatty layer called myelin, which insulates the axons and allows them to conduct signals quickly, much like rubber insulation does for electrical wires.
Overview
External links
• May 2010, Stephanie Pappas (24 May 2010). "Why Is Gray Matter Gray?". Live Science.
Structure
Grey matter refers to unmyelinated neurons and other cells of the central nervous system. It is present in the brain, brainstem and cerebellum, and present throughout the spinal cord.
Grey matter is distributed at the surface of the cerebral hemispheres (cerebral cortex) and of the cerebellum (cerebellar cortex), as well as in the depths of the cerebrum (the thalamus; hypothalamus; subthalamus, basal ganglia – putamen, globus pallidus and nucleus accumbens; as …
Function
Grey matter contains most of the brain's neuronal cell bodies. The grey matter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, and sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision making, and self-control.
The grey matter in the spinal cord is split into three grey columns:
• The anterior grey column contains motor neurons. These synapse with interneurons and the axons of …
Clinical significance
High alcohol consumption has been correlated with significant reductions in grey matter volume. Short-term cannabis use (30 days) is not correlated with changes in white or grey matter. However, several cross-sectional studies have shown that repeated long-term cannabis use is associated with smaller grey matter volumes in the hippocampus, amygdala, medial temporal cortex, and prefrontal cortex, with increased grey matter volume in the cerebellum. Long-term cannabis use …
History
In the current edition of the official Latin nomenclature, Terminologia Anatomica, substantia grisea is used for English grey matter. The adjective grisea for grey is however not attested in classical Latin. The adjective grisea is derived from the French word for grey, gris. Alternative designations like substantia cana and substantia cinerea are being used alternatively. The adjective cana, attested in classical Latin, can mean grey, or greyish white. The classical Latin ci…
Additional images
• Human brain right dissected lateral view
• Schematic representation of the chief ganglionic categories (I to V).
See also
• Grey matter heterotopia