The axon, though, may give off side branches or collaterals , and will usually divide into many fine branches, telodendria or the preterminal axonal arborization , near to its terminal structures. No intracellular detail was seen. Current methods yielding Golgi-like detail are to fill the neuron with Lucifer Yellow which can be lighted up with fluorescence microscopy, or with horseradish peroxidase which produces a visible product by acting on a substrate. Nerve cell structure Soma contains a large central nucleus with much sap, but little visible chromatin. The nucleolus is prominent because the neuron has to synthesize organelles and much cytoplasm to fill its long processes.
Actin filaments move vesicles in the zone directly under the neuron's plasmalemma.
Pigment is sometimes present, e.g., melanin in substantia nigra neurons, and lipofuscin in old neurons. Dendrites integrate the excitatory influences along them and modify their responses and morphology in learning. The membrane propagates the action potential. At intervals along the myelin, Schwann cell cytoplasm penetrates into conically oriented separations of the myelin lamellae, constituting the incisures of Schmidt-Lantermann, perhaps giving the myelin some flexibility and aiding molecular turnover. For example, a basic stain like toluidine blue will stain only nuclei of nerve and glial cells and Nissl bodies of nerve cells, leaving the large areas of surrounding tissue pale and apparently structureless, although other stains reveal that these areas of neuropil are packed with dendrites, axons, and processes of glial cells.