Oligodendrocyte

Oligodendrocyte
: A type of cell in the central nervous system. The oligodendrocytes surround and insulate the long fibers (the axons) through which the nerves send their electrical messages. The term "oligodendrocyte" comes from the fact that through a microscope the cell's projections looked like the sparse branches of a tree. The word is from the Greek "oligo-", few or scant + "dendron", tree + "-cyte", cell.
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oli·go·den·dro·cyte -'den-drə-.sīt n a glial cell resembling an astrocyte but smaller with few and slender processes having few branches

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n.
one of the cells of the glia, responsible for producing the myelin sheaths of the neurones of the central nervous system and therefore equivalent to the Schwann cells of the peripheral nerves.

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ol·i·go·den·dro·cyte (ol″ĭ-go-denґdro-sīt) [oligodendroglia + -cyte] a cell of the oligodendroglia.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • oligodendrocyte — noun Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary, from olig + dendr + cyte Date: 1932 a glial cell resembling an astrocyte but smaller with few and slender processes having few branches …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • oligodendrocyte — Neuroglial cell of the central nervous system in vertebrates whose function is to myelinate CNS axons …   Dictionary of molecular biology

  • oligodendrocyte — ol·i·go·den·dro·cyte (ŏl ĭ gō dĕnʹdrə sīt , ō lĭ ) n. One of the cells comprising the oligodendroglia. * * * …   Universalium

  • oligodendrocyte — noun any of the cells of the oligodendroglia in the nervous system …   Wiktionary

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