Unit 9

Question 1

Function of Nervous System

Answer 1

To act as the body’s communication network, sending and receiving messages between different parts of the body and the external environment, allowing for bodily functions like movement, sensation, thought, learning, and memory to occur; essentially controlling and coordinating all bodily activities by interpreting sensory information and initiating appropriate responses.

Question 2

Function of Association Neuron

Answer 2

Acts as a bridge between sensory and motor neurons, essentially receiving signals from sensory neurons and transmitting them to motor neurons, allowing for the integration and processing of information within the central nervous system, enabling complex responses to stimuli.

Question 3

Function of Synaptic Knob

Answer 3

The point where a neuron releases neurotransmitters to transmit signals to another neuron or target cell across the synaptic cleft.

Question 4

Function of the Voltage gated ion channels

Answer 4

To generate electrical signals in cells by selectively allowing ions to pass through the cell membrane in response to changes in the membrane potential.

Question 5

Function of Oligodendrocytes

Answer 5

To produce myelin, a fatty insulating sheath that wraps around neuronal axons, allowing for faster and more efficient transmission of nerve impulses by facilitating saltatory conduction.

Question 6

Function of swhann cells

Answer 6

Producing the myelin sheath that insulates axons in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), allowing for rapid signal transmission along the nerve fibers by facilitating saltatory conduction;

Question 7

Function of Nodes of Ranvier

Answer 7

Gaps in the myelin sheath of a nerve fiber, allowing for the regeneration of action potentials and rapid signal transmission along the axon through a process called saltatory conduction, significantly increasing the speed of nerve impulse propagation

Question 8

Function of synapse (synaptic cleft)

Answer 8

To act as the small gap between two neurons where chemical signals, called neurotransmitters, are transmitted from one neuron to the next, allowing for communication between nerve cells and facilitating the transmission of electrical impulses throughout the nervous system

Question 9

Stages of action potential

Answer 9

1) Depolarization: activated sodium channels, deactivated potassium channels, 2) Repolarization: inactivated sodium channels, activated potassium channels, 3) Hyperpolarization: moving back to activation for the sodium channels, activated potassium channels, 4) Resting state

Question 10

Afferent vs efferent nerves

Answer 10

Afferent neurons carry information from sensory receptors of the skin and other organs to the central nervous system (i.e., brain and spinal cord), whereas efferent neurons carry motor information away from the central nervous system to the muscles and glands of the body.

Question 11

Function of medulla oblongata

Answer 11

Helps control vital processes like your heartbeat, breathing and blood pressure

Question 12

Function of cerebellum

Answer 12

The cerebellum is primarily responsible for muscle control, including balance and movement. It also plays a role in other cognitive functions such as language processing and memory.

Question 13

Function of cerebrum

Answer 13

The largest part of the brain, the cerebrum initiates and coordinates movement and regulates temperature. Other areas of the cerebrum enable speech, judgment, thinking and reasoning, problem-solving, emotions and learning. Other functions relate to vision, hearing, touch and other senses.

Question 14

Function of the Hypothalamus

Answer 14

The hypothalamus helps manage your body temperature, hunger and thirst, mood, sex drive, blood pressure and sleep.

Question 15

Function of the Choroid plexus

Answer 15

Its primary role is to produce cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and help maintain the composition and volume of this fluid within the brain.

Question 16

Function of longitudinal fissure

Answer 16

Separates the human brain into two hemispheres that remain connected through the corpus callosum. The left and the right halves of the brain resemble each other, and almost every structure present in one side has an equivalent structure in the other.

Question 17

CNS

Answer 17

Brain and spinal cord

Question 18

Somatic nervous system

Answer 18

The Somatic nervous system is made up of two main types of nerves: sensory (afferent) neurons which carry information from the body to the central nervous system, and motor (efferent) neurons which carry signals from the central nervous system to the muscles, allowing for voluntary movement;

Question 19

PNS

Answer 19

The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) is made up of the cranial nerves, spinal nerves, and their branches

Question 20

Horns of the spinal cord

Answer 20

The posterior horn is responsible for sensory processing. The anterior horn sends out motor signals to the skeletal muscles. The lateral horn, which is only found in the thoracic, upper lumbar, and sacral regions, is the central component of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system.

Question 21

Remember to look at:

Answer 21

Parts of neurons

Question 22

Stages of an action potential

Answer 22

The rising phase, the peak phase, the falling phase, the undershoot phase, and the refractory period

Question 23

Reflex arc

Answer 23

The basic unit of a reflex, which involves neural pathways acting on an impulse before that impulse has reached the brain.

Question 24

Where are neurotransmitters released from?

Answer 24

Neurotransmitters are released from the presynaptic terminal of a neuron, specifically from small sacs called synaptic vesicles, into the synaptic cleft where they can then interact with receptors on the postsynaptic neuron

Question 25

3 different meninges and where each are located.

Answer 25

The three layers of meninges, from outermost to innermost, are the dura mater (outer layer, directly beneath the skull), arachnoid mater (middle layer, resembling a web-like structure), and pia mater (inner layer, closely adhering to the brain and spinal cord surface)

Question 26

What are the lobes of the brain named after?

Answer 26

Skeletal bones/ locations.