How Many Cells are in the Brain?

The brain is made up of an inconceivable number of cells. (Image credit: Dreamstime)

An "enchanted loom" is how Charles Sherrington described the interconnected net of cells that makes up our three-pound control center. Indeed, there is something almost magical in the notion that all our mental processes, from perception to memory to consciousness itself, can be described entirely by cellular activity in the brain.

The basic functional unit of the brain is the neuron, a special cell that sends electrochemical signals to other neurons (across a "synaptic gap") and thereby creates those patterns that make up what we think of as the mind.

What's more, for each neuron there are some 10 to 50 glial cells providing structural support, protection, resources and more.

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