Test 3 Flashcards
what are the 3 main functions of the Nervous system
- Sensory input: uses sensory receptors to monitor changes(stimuli) inside and outside the body
- Integration: interprets the sensory input and decides what to do
- Motor output: Dictates a response to the changes by activating the effector organs
Basic divisions of the NS
Central NS: brain and spinal cord
Peripheral NS: nerves and ganglia
- > Cranial nerves: carry info to and from brain
- > spinal nerves :carry info to and from spinal cord
- > Ganglia: areas where the cell bodies of neurons are clustered
first two divisions of the Motor(efferent) division of the peripheral NS
- Somatic NS: somatic motor (Voluntary)- Conducts nerve impulses from CNS to structures external to the ventral body cavity (skin, skeletal muscle, bones)
- Automatic NS:
Visceral motor (Involuntary)- conducts impulses from CNS to visceral body region(digestive tube, lungs, heart, bladder) >sympathetic¶sympathetic divisions
4 main subdivisions of PNS
- Somatic sensory
- Visceral sensory
- Somatic motor (to skeletal muscle)
- Visceral motor (autonomic NS- cardiac/smooth muscle and glands)
- Somatic sensory
- General: touch, pain, pressure, vibration, proprioception from skin/body wall/limbs
- special: hearing, equilibrium and vision
- Visceral sensory
- General: stretch, pain, temp, chemical changes and irritation in the viscera; nausea and hunger
- special: taste and smell
nervous tissue cell types
- neurons: excitable nerve cells that transmit electrical signals
- neuroglia: nonexcitable supporting cells that surround and wrap the neurons
neuron functional characteristics
- conduct electrical signals in form of nerve impulses or APs
- extreme longevity
- no mitosis
- high metabolic rate
Cell body
aka the soma
- normal organelles and chromatophillic substance (large clusters of rough ER and free ribosomes that stain darkly)
- neurofibrils: bundles of intermediate filaments that run in a network b/w the chromatopillic subsstance
- most cell bodies within the CNS, some within ganglion in the PNS
Dendrites
- each has all the normal organelles and chromatophillic substance
- receptive sites for signals, carried to cell body
Axon
only one per neuron
- arises from region of cell body called axon hillock (region of impulse generators and conductors)
- no organelles for protein synthesis , must get proteins from neurofilaments, actin microfilaments and microtubules which carry substances
what three things stem from or come off the axon
axon collaterals: branches that extend from the axon at right angles
terminal aborization: branchess at the end of the axon
terminal boutons: the ends of terminal aborizations
what are axodendritic synapses and axosomatic synapses
axodendritic: occur b/w one neuron and dendrite of another neuron
axosomatic: occur b/w axons and neuron cell bodies
multipolar, bipolar and unipolar
multipolar: more than 2 processes coming off cell body (most abundant- many in CNS)
Bipolar: 2 processes that extend from either side of the cell body (rare)
-Unipolar: short, single process that emerges from the cell body and divides like an inverted T into teo long branches (mostly in PNS, ex. dorsal root ganglion cell)
sensory vs. motor vs. interneurons
sensory: most are pseudounipolar or with cell bodies in ganglia outside the CNS or bipolar and located in sense organs(retina)
motor: multipolar with cell bodies in the CNS
Interneurons: B/w motor and sensory neurons and confined to CNS, most multipolar neurons are interneurons
Neuroglia in the CNS
- Astrocytes
- Microglial cells:
- Ependymal cells:
- Oligodendrocytes:
- Astrocytes
- Astrocytes: star shaped, most abundant, regulate NT levels, signalling increased blood flow through capillaries in active regions of the brain and controlling the ionic environment around the neurons
- Microglial cells:
smallest, least abundant, elongated cell bodies and cell processes with many pointed projections, phagocytic
- Ependymal cells:
single epithelium that lines the central cavity of the spinal cord and brain(BBB), move CSF
4.Oligodendrocytes:
line up in small groups and wrap their cell processes around thicker axons in the CNS producing insulating covering called myelin sheath
Neuroglia of PNS
- satellite cells: surround neuron cell bodies within the ganglia
- Schwann cells: surround all axons in the PNS forming myelin sheath
Myelination process in PNS:
- schwann cell envelopes the axon
- the schwann cell rotates around the axon, wrapping its plasma membrane loosely around it in successive layers
- the schwann cell cytoplasm is forced from b/w the membranes. the tight membrane wrappings surrounding the axon form the myelin sheath
Grey vs white matter of the CNS
- Grey matter:
- surrounds the hollow central cavity of the CNS
- site where neuron cell bodies are clustered (of inter and motor neurons)
- synapses occur here
- in the cerebrum and cerebellum there are additional superficial layers of grey matter forming a cortex - White matter:
- no cell bodies, but many axons and neuroglia
- white in color is from the myelinated axons
- axons traveling to similar destinations are called tracts
what does a nerve consist of
many fascicles which each fascicle containing many axons
- Epineurium: tough fibrous sheath that surrounds the entire nerve
- perineurium: wraps around a nerve fascicle
- endoneurium: layer of loose connective tissue covering schwann cells