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White matter is part of the brain and spinal cord and facilitates communication between gray matter and the rest of the body.
Found in inner layers of the cortex, optic nerves, and central and lower portions of the brain as well as the spinal cord.
White matter, which is made up of the connections between neurons that allow areas of the brain to communicate quickly, is at its highest volume around age 30, and begins to decline in later adulthood.
Made up primarily of axons of nerve cells and full of myelin, which is a whitish fatty material.
Its color appears white when exposed.
It works with gray matter, a non-myelinated part of the brain responsible for sending sensory and motor stimulus to the central nervous system to create a response.
Abnormalities in white matter can impair the central nervous system neuroconnections.
The majority of lesions associated with multiple sclerosis are in the white matter and occur because of inflammation that causes destruction of the myelin surrounding the axons.