Cellular structure of the brain

The cellular structure of the brain is a relatively recent discovery and it's Santiago Ramòn y Cajal that recognised it; in addition to this he recognised the neuron as the basic unit. Three main elements can be recognized in the neuron: the soma, the axon and the dendrites. The soma is the cell body where the nucleus is located. The axon is the electrically active part of the neuron, it is in fact through the axon (from the axon hillock) that the action potential is spread to be able to reach other neurons and send information. The dendrites are processes attached to the soma that have as main function that of increasing the surface area of the neuron so to be able to receive inputs from the other neurons. Neurons communicate between each other and can either diverge on many other neurons or many information can converge on one single neuron. The complicated pathways that result from this give rise to the neural networks.