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Glite Dictionary
antidromic

antidromic

9.9
A nerve impulse that travels the opposite way along a nerve fiber
  • adjective
  • /ˌæntɪˈdroʊmɪk/
  • Specialized
: antidromico
  • Antidromic impulses travel back toward the cell body of the neuron rather than away from it.

Examples

  • You should know that antidromic conduction was the major method.

  • In antidromic conduction, the signal moves opposite to the typical direction along the nerve.

  • During the experiment, we observed an antidromic response in the nerve fiber.

Surface Forms

antidromic positive

Morphology

antidromic = anti + drom + ic

The word is formally built from anti- + drom- + -ic, but the Greek root is technical and not readily recoverable for an average English learner.

Etymology

Antidromic comes from the Greek parts anti- 'against' and dromos 'running'. So an antidromic nerve signal is like a runner going the wrong way — a signal that travels in the opposite direction along a nerve instead of the normal way.