Neuroanatomy Flashcards
(23 cards)
Where do superior and inferior refer to?
Superior - top of the head
Inferior - towards the feet
Where do anterior and posterior refer to?
Anterior - front of the brain
Posterior - back of the brain
Where does dorsal and ventral refer to on the brain and the spinal cord?
Dorsal - On the spine it refers to the back, on the brain it refers to the top.
Ventral - On the spine it refers to the abdominal side, on the brain it refers to the bottom.
The axis change at the junction between the brain stem and the diencephalon.
Where does rostral and caudal refer to?
Rostral - towards the nose. On the spinal cord it points up towards the nose and at the brain it points to the front of the brain.
Caudal - away from the nose. On the spinal cord it points towards the feet and at the brain it points towards the back.
What is a saggital section of the brain?
When the brain is cut into two halves.
What is a horizontal/transverse section?
When the brain is cut perpendicular to the long axis of the body.
What is a coronal section?
When a cut is made parallel to the long axis of the body.
Where does medial and lateral refer to?
Medial - close to the middle.
Lateral - close to the sides.
What two main sections can we split the nervous system into?
The central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
What is the CNS?
The central nervous system. It consists of the brain and the spinal cord and is the most complex part of the nervous system, containing the majority of nerve cell bodies and synaptic connections.
What is the PNS?
The peripheral nervous system. It constitutes the link between the CNS and the periphery of the body, from which it receives sensory information and to which it sends controlling impulses. It is made of nerves joined to the brain (cranial nerves) and to the spine (spinal).
Spinal nerves that go towards the upper and lower libs coalesce to form what?
Brachial plexus for upper limbs and lumbar plexus for lower limbs. Within these are fibres which are redistributed into named peripheral nerves.
What are ganglia?
The structures containing the aggregation of many peripherally located nerve cell bodies.
What comprises the somatic nervous system?
Neurones that are concerned with detecting changes in the external environment or with the control of movement.
What comprises the autonomic nervous system?
Neurone the detect changes, and control the activity of, viscera (the three main, central cavities in the body, the chest, abdomen and pelvis).
What can we split the autonomic nervous system into?
The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system.
What are afferent neurones?
Neurones that carry information from peripheral receptors.
What are efferent neurones?
Carry impulses away from the CNS, if they also cause skeletal muscles to contract they are called motor neurones.
(Efferent neurones cause an effect)
The vast majority of neurones are interneurones. What are these?
Neurones located entirely within the CNS.
What can the terms afferent and efferent also apply to?
They can be used to describe the polarity of projections to and from structures located entirely within the CNS.
The CNS is a highly heterogeneous structure in terms of the distribution of nerve cell bodies. Some regions are relatively enriched in nerve cell bodies , whereas other regions are mostly myelinated nerve processes (usually axons). What parts are grey matter and what parts are white matter?
Grey matter - enriched with nerve cell bodies.
White matter - myelinated nerve process (myelin sheath gives the white colour)
What are nuclei?
Groups of nerve cell bodies with similar anatomical connections (structure) and function.
What are pathways/tracts?
The course nerve processes that share common connections and functions follow.
