Nodes of Ranvier Antibody Explorer Kit

Myelinated axons of the peripheral and central nervous systems are divided into molecularly distinct excitable domains, including paranodal axoglial junctions, juxtaparanodes, internodes and the nodes of ranvier. Nodes of Ranvier are spatially near myelin sheaths and are interspersed at regular distances along the axon.

Nodes of ranvier are responsible for regenerating the action potential as it propagates along the myelinated axon away from the soma. Action potential propagation in myelinated nerves requires clustered voltage gated sodium (Na⁺) and potassium (K⁺) channels. In addition, nodes of ranvier are also enriched with the cytoskeletal and scaffolding proteins ankyrin G (ankG) and βIV spectrin. These proteins link the sodium and potassium channels to the underlying cytoskeleton^1,2_.

Nodes of ranvier play an important role in normal neural physiology. Disruption of the nodes is implicated in a variety of neurological disorders including stroke, epilepsy, and traumatic injury¹.