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Synapse vs Ganglion - What's the difference?

synapse | ganglion |

As nouns the difference between synapse and ganglion

is that synapse is the junction between the terminal of a neuron and either another neuron or a muscle or gland cell, over which nerve impulses pass while ganglion is an encapsulated collection of nerve-cell bodies, located outside the brain and spinal cord.

As a verb synapse

is to form a synapse.

synapse

English

Noun

(wikipedia synapse) (en noun)
  • (neuroanatomy, cytology) The junction between the terminal of a neuron and either another neuron or a muscle or gland cell, over which nerve impulses pass.
  • See also

    * axon * dendrite

    Verb

  • To form a synapse.
  • To undergo synapsis.
  • ----

    ganglion

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (neuroanatomy)
  • # An encapsulated collection of nerve-cell bodies, located outside the brain and spinal cord.
  • # Any of certain masses of gray matter in the brain, as the basal ganglia.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia' of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ' ganglia remains obscure.}}
  • (by extension) A centre of intellectual or industrial force, activity, etc.
  • (pathology) A cystic tumour on a tendon sheath or joint capsule; a ganglion cyst
  • Derived terms

    * ganglial * autonomic ganglion * basal ganglion * spinal ganglion * ganglion cyst * gangliectomy/ganglionectomy