Grey matter

Grey matter
Grey matter
	The formation of the spinal nerve from the dorsal and ventral roots (with grey matter labelled at centre right).
	Micrograph showing grey matter, with the characteristic neuronal cell bodies (dark shade of pink), and white matter with its characteristic fine meshwork-like appearance (left of image; lighter shade of pink). HPS stain.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	substantia grisea
MeSH	D066128
TA98	A14.1.00.002; A14.1.02.020; A14.1.04.201; A14.1.05.201; A14.1.05.401; A14.1.06.301
TA2	5365
FMA	67242
	Anatomical terminology

Grey matter, or brain matter in American English, is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil (dendrites and unmyelinated axons), glial cells (astrocytes and oligodendrocytes), synapses, and capillaries. Grey matter is distinguished from white matter in that it contains numerous cell bodies and relatively few myelinated axons, while white matter contains relatively few cell bodies and is composed chiefly of long-range myelinated axons.^[1] The colour difference arises mainly from the whiteness of myelin. In living tissue, grey matter actually has a very light grey colour with yellowish or pinkish hues, which come from capillary blood vessels and neuronal cell bodies.^[2]

^ Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Hall WC, LaMantia AS, McNamara JO, White LE (2008). Neuroscience (4th ed.). Sinauer Associates. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-87893-697-7.
^ Kolb B, Whishaw IQ (2003). Fundamentals of human neuropsychology (5th ed.). New York: Worth Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-7167-5300-1.

[Purves-1] Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Hall WC, LaMantia AS, McNamara JO, White LE (2008). Neuroscience (4th ed.). Sinauer Associates. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-87893-697-7.

[2] Kolb B, Whishaw IQ (2003). Fundamentals of human neuropsychology (5th ed.). New York: Worth Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-7167-5300-1.

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