EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -In cross-section, the peripheral region of the cord contains neuronal white matter tracts containing sensory and motor axons. Internal to this peripheral region is the grey matter, which contains the nerve cell bodies arranged in the three grey columns that give the region its butterfly-shape.

Detailed explanation-2: -Like the brain, the spinal cord consists of gray and white matter. The butterfly-shaped center of the cord consists of gray matter.

Detailed explanation-3: -White matter: composed of bundles of axons. These axons are coated with myelin, a mixture of proteins and lipids, that helps conduct nerve signals and protect the axons. White matter conducts, processes, and send nerve signals up and down the spinal cord.

Detailed explanation-4: -White matter in the spinal cord is sometimes called superficial tissue because it is located in the outer regions of the brain and spinal cord. Gray matter is situated closer to the center of the central nervous system.

Detailed explanation-5: -White matter is one of the two components of the central nervous system and consists mostly of glial cells and myelinated axons. The white matter is white because of the fatty substance ( myelin ) that surrounds the nerve fibers. Myelin acts as an electrical insulation.