Gray matter and white matter make up the central nervous system. Gray matter makes up about 40% of the human brain while white matter makes up the remaining 60%. But 94% of the oxygen utilized by the brain overall is consumed by the gray matter.
Gray Matter
The substantia grisea, which is another name for the tissue in the brain and spinal cord known as “gray matter,” is made up of cell bodies. While the white matter facilitates communication between various gray matter regions and between the grey matter and the rest of the body.
- All neuronal synapses, as well as the neural cell bodies, axon terminals, and dendrites, are found in the gray matter, which gets its name from its pinkish-gray hue.
- The cerebellum, brain stem, and cerebrum all contain a lot of this type of brain tissue.
- It also contributes to the central spinal cord’s butterfly-shaped part.
- Gray matter is used to process information.
- Signals from the sensory organs or from other regions of the gray matter are processed by the structures within the gray matter.
- This tissue transports sensory input to the central nervous system’s neurons, where synapses cause a reaction to the input.
White Matter
The brain and spinal cord’s “white matter” refers to the section.
It facilitate communication across the various gray matter areas and between the gray matter and the rest of the body.
- Bundles of axons make up the white matter in your brain and spinal cord.
- It has nerve fibers (axons), which are the nerve cells extensions neurons.
- A type of sheath or covering known as myelin surrounds many of these nerve fibers.
- Myelin, a mixture of proteins and lipids that helps conduct nerve signals and shields the axons.
- Myelin gives color to white matter.
- Conducting, processing, and transmitting nerve signals up and down the spinal cord is the function of white matter.
- Some persons with white matter impairment experience reflexive reaction deficiencies.
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