Neurons or Nerve Cells:

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Neurons are nerve cells in the brain that send messages throughout the brain and the rest of the body to enable breathing, walking, talking, eating, thinking. They’re the most elementary units of communication in our nervous system and as the building blocks of nerves, responsible for transmitting electrical impulses/signals to other neurons in muscle cells, cardiac cells, and glandular cells. Each neuron consists of a soma (cell body with nucleus), axon (long, branching fibers for signal transmission), and dendrites (smaller branching fibers that increase surface area to receive signals from other cells). Neurotransmitters are chemical signals that enable transmission of messages neuron-to-neuron, allowing us to breathe, walk, talk, eat, and think. Hundreds of neuron types have different structures and functions. Once a neuron reaches its destination, it assumes the role of sensory neuron, motor neuron — or interneuron that connects to brain regions. Science still needs to learn about this part of neurogenesis, called differentiation. Neurons are classified as afferent (sensory), efferent (motor), andinterneuron, based on the direction of signals traveling across the nervous system. Also see Neuron Endings, Nerves, and Nerve Endings. Research:

Until recently, neuroscience believed people were born with all the neurons they would have for a lifetime — growing them as children on “information highways” — called neural circuits — that create pathways across the brain. It was thought the addition of new neurons to the neural circuitry would change the flow of information and break the brain’s communication system.
Research starting in the early 1960s eventually proved this wrong. Scientists found evidence of neuron birth — or neurogenesis — in the adult brain. Today’s scientists are researching how neurogenesis affects the adult brain — to understand the capacity of adult neurons to proliferate or be replaced — and the role of new adult neurons for learning and memory