Oligodendrocytes wrap the brain's wires in a fatty coat. That coat helps messages zoom much faster.
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Oligo means few, and dendro means branch. These glial cells have a small body and a few arms.
They live in your brain and spinal cord. Each arm reaches out to an axon and wraps around it many times, like tape wound around a stick.
One oligodendrocyte can wrap pieces of many different axons at the same time!
The wrapping is called myelin. It is fatty and works a bit like the plastic coat on a wire.
There are small gaps between the wrapped parts. Messages jump from gap to gap, so they travel much faster than on a bare axon.
Myelin is why white matter looks white!
Press Wrap the wires on the 3D model, then press Send a fast message.