Neurons, Axons & Athletic Injury: Overcoming Problems & Repair Process

[Ester]

What problems does a neuron need to overcome to maintain the health and growth of the axon? I thought it has a problem with axon's length?

Another question is: How would you estimate the muscle mass of a person? I know that muscle does not float, but adipose tissue does. Would I just determine it by how tall the person is?

and.. An athletic injury can result in a tear to a muscle or the tendon that attaches the muscle to bone. What would be torn ( specific materials/ cells/ etc). What do you imagine the repair process for each type of tear to be like?

 

[Ester]

can't somebody help me? :(

 

[DocToxyn]

In many neurons the axon can be quite long and the nerve terminal can be quite far from the soma, or cell body, where the nucleus is. The nucleus obviosuly where the cell's genetic material is and thus this is the site of production of mRNA for the proteins and other cellular constituents that the cell and its axon needs to survive and function. What do you think the cell must do once those necessary products are made in the cell body? Have you ever hear of anterograde and retrograde axonal transport? Look up these terms and you'll have your answer.

As far as muscle mass, there are several ways to get at it. Simpler methods would include taking body measurements (more that just height) and calculating the muscle mass from standardized data. Using these you will probably end up with a fairly accurate measurement. Others include radilogical assays of amino acid incorporation or body scans using magnetic resonance imaging and similar technologies. Do a google search for "determining muscle mass" and you'll find a lot of info.