Principles of neuroanatomy Flashcards
(44 cards)
What are the 3 principal planes?
Sagittal, coronal, transverse
What are the different positional and directional terms?
Rostral - towards the head Caudal - towards the tail Anterior - front Posterior - back Lateral - side Medial - middle Dorsal - back Ventral - belly
What does the central nervous system consists of?
Brain and spinal cord, lying within the cranium and vertebral column.
What does the peripheral nervous system consist of?
Nerves joined to the brain and spine - cranial and spinal nerves
What are spinal nerves to the lower limbs called?
Lumbar plexus
What are spinal nerves to the upper limbs called?
Brachial plexus
What are nerve cell bodies located peripherally called?
Ganglia
What is the function of the autonomic nervous system?
Detect changes in and control the activity of internal organs, smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, glands etc…
What is the function of the somatic nervous system?
Detects changes in the environment and controls movement
What are the two functionally and anatomically distinct parts of the autonomic nervous system?
Sympathetic and parasympathetic.
What are afferent neurones?
Neurones that carry signals from peripheral receptors to the CNS.
What are sensory neurones?
If the information carried by afferent neurones reaches consciousness then it is also a sensory neurone.
What are efferent neurones?
Neurones that carry impulses aay from the CNS.
What are motor neurones?
Efferent neurones that innervate skeletal muscle to cause movement.
What are interneurones?
Neurones located entirely within the CNS.
How are afferent and efferent used within the CNS?
Afferent and efferent mean entering and leaving structures within the CNS. They denote the polarity of projections from structure in the CNS. Projections entering the cerebral cortex for example are cortical afferents.
What are the bony coverings of the CNS called?
Skull (brain) and vertebral column (spine)
What are the three concentric layers of membranes covering the CNS called?
The meninges
What are the 3 layers of the meninges from outside to in?
Outermost layer is the dura mater.
Middle layer is the arachnoid mater.
Innermost layer is the pia mater.
What is the dura mater?
The outermost membrane of the meninges, It is a tough fibrous coat that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
What are the two sheets of dura that divide the cranial cavity into compartments called?
The falx celebri which lies in the sagittal plane between the two cerebral hemispheres.
The tentorium cerebelli lying beneat the occipital lobes of the cerebral hemispheres and above the cerebellum.
The tentorium cerebelli is continuous with the posterior part of the falx cerebri.
Where does venous drainage of the brain occur?
The cranial dura mater contains dural venous sinuses where the two layers of the dura mater are sepearated.
What are important locations of the dural venous sinuses?
On the floor of the crainial cavity.
Along the lines of attachment of the falx cerebri and tenotorium cerebelli to the interior of the skull and to each other.
What is the arachnoid mater?
Layer of meniges just below the dura separated by a thing dubdural space. It is a translucent, collagenous membrane that loosely envelops the brain and spinal cord.
