This backbone, made up of smaller bones called vertebrae (ver-tuh-bray), keeps the spinal cord safe from any bashes and bangs. Also important is the bony spine or backbone, which protects all the cells and structures of the spinal cord.
The gray matter also contains most of the spinal cord blood vessels, which provide nutrients and oxygen to the neurons. If you look at a piece of spinal cord that has been cut (as a cross section, meaning a slice through the spinal cord, like you might slice a carrot or a hot dog to show the inside), the gray matter makes an “H” or butterfly shape inside the white matter ( Figure 2A). The neurons may also have a white fatty coating, known as the myelin sheath, which helps the messages travel to the brain more quickly.Figure 1 - The structure of a neuron, the specialized cells of the brain and spinal cord.Most of the neurons with myelin are found in an area of the spinal cord known as white matter and they surround the cells without myelin, which are located in the area called the gray matter. The neurons may also have a white fatty coating, known as the myelin sheath (my-uh-lin sheath), which helps the messages-like the pain from someone standing on your toe-to travel to the brain more quickly. These messages (traveling to and from the brain) are sent by specialized nerve cells, called neurons ( Figure 1). Through this communication, we are able to feel sensations, like pain, and control the movement of our arms and legs. It is the main pathway for information to travel between the brain and all the other parts of the body. What is the Spinal Cord and How Does it Work? Spinal cord injuries can cause a person to lose feeling or use of their arms and legs, so scientists are working to find different ways of stopping or reducing the secondary injury to help people with spinal cord injuries recover better. The secondary injury includes a few different reactions that happen in the body because of the bruising and tearing. When the spinal cord is injured, the injury happens in two stages: the first of these is the actual injury where the cord is bruised or torn and the second is known as the secondary injury. The spinal cord is protected by the bony spine. It has nerve cells called neurons that are divided into white matter, which has a fatty white coating called myelin, and gray matter. The spinal cord is a pathway for messages to and from the brain and other parts of the body.
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