Nerve cell culture. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a growth cone (centre) growing new nervous tissue in culture. A growth cone is a specialised region at the tip of a neurite that senses the local environment with its branching filopodia. A neurite is an extruded process that links a nerve cell body (not seen) to the neurites of other nerve cell bodies. There are two types of neurites: axons (transmitting nerve impulses away from a nerve cell body) & dendrites (transmitting nerve impulses towards a nerve cell body). Medical research uses nerve tissue cultures to investigate methods of promoting neurite growth and neural regeneration. Magnification unknown.