| / English Dictionary |
AFFERENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A nerve that passes impulses from receptors toward or to the central nervous system
Synonyms:
afferent; afferent nerve; sensory nerve
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("afferent" is a kind of...):
nerve; nervus (any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body)
Meronyms (parts of "afferent"):
afferent neuron; sensory neuron (a neuron conducting impulses inwards to the brain or spinal cord)
afferent fiber; sensory fiber (a nerve fiber that carries impulses toward the central nervous system)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "afferent"):
dorsal horn; dorsal root; posterior horn; posterior root (one of two roots of a spinal nerve that passes dorsally from the spinal cord and that consists of sensory fibers)
fillet; lemniscus (a bundle of sensory nerve fibers going to the thalamus)
Derivation:
afferent (of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying sensory information from the sense organs to the CNS)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying sensory information from the sense organs to the CNS
Example:
afferent impulses
Classified under:
Similar:
centripetal; receptive; sensory (of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing toward the central nervous system)
corticipetal; corticoafferent (of a nerve fiber or impulse originating outside and passing toward the cerebral cortex)
Domain category:
physiology (the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning of organisms)
Antonym:
efferent (of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying information away from the CNS)
Derivation:
afferent (a nerve that passes impulses from receptors toward or to the central nervous system)
Context examples:
This agent also increases nitric oxide (NO) production via activation of endothelial NO synthase, thereby induces afferent arteriolar vasodilation.
(Desmopressin, NCI Thesaurus)
White matter pathway, flanked by nuclear masses, consisting of both afferent and efferent fibers projecting between the cerebral cortex and the brainstem.
(Internal Capsule, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
Palonosetron competitively blocks the action of serotonin at 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3 (5-HT3) receptors located on vagal afferents in the chemoreceptor trigger zone (CTZ), resulting in suppression of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.
(Palonosetron hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)
SP is found in neurons of vagal afferent fibers innervating the brain-stem nucleus tractus solitarii and the area postrema, which contains the chemoreceptor trigger zone (CTZ), and may be elevated in response to chemotherapy.
(Casopitant, NCI Thesaurus)
Upon oral administration of GIC-1001, this agent may exert its therapeutic effects through the potential mechanisms of action for the trimebutine and sulfonate moieties: The trimebutine moiety can act as a motility enhancer in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, as an antispasmodic agent to reduce colonic spasms, as an agonist of colonic mu and kappa opioid receptors, which could provide an analgesic effect, and blocks sodium channels and the release of a variety of GI peptides, which modulates the activity of visceral afferents.
(Opioid Agonist GIC-1001, NCI Thesaurus)
Any of a group of cells that are situated in the wall of each afferent arteriole of a kidney glomerulus near its point of entry adjacent to a macula densa and that produce and secrete renin.
(Juxtaglomerular Cell, NCI Thesaurus)
Together they provide efferent innervation to the muscles of facial expression and to the lacrimal and salivary glands, and convey afferent information for taste from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue and for touch from the external ear.
(Facial Nerve, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
An area of densely packed modified epithelial cells lining the wall of the distal convoluted tubule of the kidney that is adjacent to the afferent arteriole just before it enters the glomerulus and is in direct apposition to the juxtaglomerular cells.
(Macula Densa, NCI Thesaurus)
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