8 - Nervous System (Panic version) Flashcards
What is the autonomic nervous system? What does it innervate?
Involuntary division of the peripheral nervous system.
Innervates smooth muscle, cardiac muscle or glands.
What is an axon?
A nerve fibre extending from the cell body of a neuron.
What is the central nervous system?
Subdivision of the nervous system containing the spinal cord and brain.
What is a dendrite?
A cellular projection extending from the cell body of a neuron
What does it mean when something is “enteric”?
It relates to the digestive tract.
What is an ion channel?
A membrane protein channel through which an ion can move.
What is the “motor” division of the nervous system?
Division of the peripheral nervous system. Transmits action potentials from the central nervous system to effectors (e.g. muscles, glands)
What is myelination?
Process by which a myelin sheat wraps around an axon.
What is a neuroglial cell?
Supporting cell of the nervous system.
What is a neuron?
The basic structural unit of the nervous system.
What is a neurotransmitter?
Chemical which transmits information from a neuron to an effector cell.
What is the peripheral nervous system?
All nervous tissue (sensory receptors, nerves, ganglia, plexuses) outside the central nervous system.
What does it mean when a cell is polarised?
There is a difference in electrical charges across the cell membrane.
What are receptors?
Cell membrane proteins, to which a ligand binds.
What is resting membrane potential?
The electrical charge difference across the cell membrane of a resting/unstimulated cell.
What is saltatory conduction?
The process by which an action potential “skips” along an axon by jumping between unmyelinated nodes of ranvier.
What is the sensory division of the nervous system?
Division of the peripheral nervous system which transmits action potentials from sensory receptors to the central nervous system.
What is the somatic nervous system? What does it innervate?
Voluntary division of the peripheral nervous system.
Innervates skeletal muscle.
What is a synapse?
Junction between a presynaptic and postsynaptic cell.
What is a vesicle?
Cytoplasmic organelles which contain neurotansmitters.
What is a voltage-gated channel?
An ion channel which opens or closes in response to a change in membrane potential.
