ScienceAugust 9, 2026
myelin
MY-uh-lin
Definition
A protective, insulating sheath composed of fatty substances that wraps around the axons of nerve cells, facilitating the rapid transmission of electrical impulses.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek word 'myelos' (marrow), the term was coined in the 19th century by German scientist Rudolf Virchow to describe the white, fatty substance found in the nervous system.
In the news
In this article, myelin loss is mentioned as one of the factors that causes brain tissue diffusion to become more heterogeneous, contributing to the white matter damage identified by the PSMD metric.
Alzheimer’s: MRI metric identifies early white matter damage
Read the full article ↗healthcare-in-europe.com