<Tr> <Th> FMA </Th> <Td> 62977 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Anatomical terminology (edit on Wikidata) </Td> </Tr> <P> Myelin is a lipid - rich (fatty) substance formed in the central nervous system (CNS) by glial cells called oligodendrocytes, and in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) by Schwann cells . Myelin insulates nerve cell axons to increase the speed at which information (encoded as an electrical signal) travels from one nerve cell body to another (as in the CNS) or, for example, from a nerve cell body to a muscle (as in the PNS). The myelinated axon can be likened to an electrical wire (the axon) with insulating material (myelin) around it . However, unlike the plastic covering on an electrical wire, myelin does not form a single long sheath over the entire length of the axon . Rather, each myelin sheath insulates the axon over a single section and, in general, each axon comprises multiple long myelinated sections separated from each other by short gaps . Each myelin sheath is formed by the concentric wrapping of an oligodendrocyte or Schwann cell process around the axon . </P> <P> More precisely, myelin speeds the transmission of electrical impulses called action potentials along myelinated axons by insulating the axon and reducing axonal membrane capacitance . This results in saltatory conduction whereby the action potential "jumps" from one node of Ranvier, over a long myelinated stretch of the axon called the internode, before' recharging' at the next node of Ranvier, and so on, until it reaches the axon terminal . Nodes of Ranvier are the short (~ 1 micron) unmyelinated regions of the axon between adjacent long (~ 0.2 mm -> 1 mm) myelinated internodes . Once it reaches the axon terminal, this electrical signal provokes the release of a chemical message or neurotransmitter that binds to receptors on the adjacent post-synaptic cell (e.g. nerve cell in the CNS or muscle cell in the PNS) at specialised regions called synapses . </P>

The myelin sheath that covers many cns axons is formed by