Topic 3 - Spinal cord and peripheral nervous system Flashcards
(17 cards)
Afferent axon
An axon directed toward the central nervous system, conveying sensory information.
Dorsal root ganglion
A nodule on a dorsal root that contains cell bodies of afferent spinal nerve neurons.
Efferent axon
An axon directed away from the cen- tral nervous system, conveying motor commands to muscles and glands.
Cranial nerve
A peripheral nerve attached directly to the brain.
Spinal nerve
A peripheral nerve attached to the spinal cord
Vagus nerve
The largest of the cranial nerves, conveying efferent fibers of the parasympathetic divi- sion of the autonomic nervous system to organs of the thoracic and abdominal cavities.
Apophysis
Bones that we can touch at the end of the spinal cord
Vagus nerve
The largest of the cranial nerves, conveying efferent fibers of the parasympathetic divi- sion of the autonomic nervous system to organs of the thoracic and abdominal cavities.
Somatic nervous system
The part of the peripheral nervous sys- tem that controls the movement of skeletal muscles or transmits somatosensory information to the central nervous system.
Autonomic nervous system
The portion of the periph- eral nervous system that controls the body’s vegetative functions
Sympathetic division
The sympathetic division is most involved in activities associated with expendi- ture of energy from reserves that are stored in the body
Sympathetic ganglia
Nodules that contain synapses between preganglionic and postganglionic neurons of the sympathetic ner- vous system.
Sympathetic ganglion chain
One of a pair of groups of sympathetic ganglia that lie ventrolateral to the vertebral column.
Preganglionic neuron
The efferent neuron of the autonomic nervous system whose cell body is located in a cranial nerve nucleus or in the intermediate horn of the spinal gray matter and whose terminal buttons synapse upon post- ganglionic neurons in the autonomic ganglia.
Postganglionic neuron
Neurons of the autonomic nervous system that form synapses directly with their target organ.
Parasympathetic division
The portion of the autonomic nervous system that controls functions that occur during a relaxed state.
Cauda equina
A bundle of spinal roots located caudal to the end of the spinal cord.
