Bipolar neuron

A bipolar neuron, or bipolar cell, is a type of neuron characterized by having both an axon and a dendrite extending from the soma (cell body) in opposite directions. These neurons are predominantly found in the retina and olfactory system. ^[1] The embryological period encompassing weeks seven through eight marks the commencement of bipolar neuron development. ^[2] Many bipolar cells are specialized

Common examples are the retina bipolar cell, the spiral ganglion and vestibular ganglion of the vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII),^[4] the extensive use of bipolar cells to transmit efferent (motor) signals to control muscles and olfactory receptor neurons in the olfactory epithelium for smell (axons form the olfactory nerve).^{[citation needed]}

In the retina

Bipolar neurons, classified as second-order retinal neurons, play a crucial role in translating responses to light into a neural code for vision.^[5] Often found in the

Sometimes the extensions, also called processes, come off from opposite poles of the cell, and the cell then assumes a spindle shape.

In some cases where two fibers are apparently connected with a cell, one of the fibers is really derived from an adjoining nerve cell and is passing to end in a ramification around the ganglion cell, or, again, it may be coiled helically around the nerve process which is issuing from the cell.

In the cerebral cortex

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References