What are Dendrites?
Dendrites are an important part of nerve cells. The dendrites are responsible for picking up information from neighboring neurons and transmitting this information to the cell body, also known as the soma. From the soma, the information is passed on along the axon, another structure in the nerve cell, and the axon in turn transmits signals to the dendrites of neighboring neurons. This entire process occurs in a fraction of a second, allowing neurons to respond extremely rapidly to a wide variety of signals, from a message from the brain to take a breath to sensory input from a hand which is petting a cat.
