1/10 Britton Autonomic and Nerve Physiology Flashcards

1
Q

CNS

A

Brain and spinal cord

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2
Q

PNS

A

Nerves that branch out from CNS al over the body

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3
Q

Functional divisions of the nervous system

A
  • Afferent
  • Efferent
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4
Q

_____ detects stimuli from the periphery and conduct APs to the CNS and are termed _____

A

Afferent; sensory neurons

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5
Q

____ conducts APs from the CNS to effector organs, which are called _____

A

Efferent; motor neurons

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6
Q

The ANS is responsible for the:

A

Unconscious activities of the body (ex. heart rate, blood pressure, GI tract motility, pupil dilation, saliva stimulation)

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7
Q

Divisions of the ANS

A
  • Sympathetic (fight or flight, mobilize body’s resources)
  • Parasympathetic
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8
Q

Many organs have ____ innervation

A

Dual

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9
Q

Generally, SNS and PSNS have opposing ____ effects on target organs. The actions of the 2 divisions must be balanced in order to maintain _____

A

Antagonistic; homeostasis

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10
Q

Arrangement of neurons in the ANS: both divisions of the ANS contain ____ and _____

A

Pre-ganglionic and post-ganglionic neurons

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11
Q

Preganglionic neurons have cell bodies located within the

A

CNS

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12
Q

Pre-ganglionic neurons of the SNS are located:

A

Within the spinal cord segments T1-L3

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13
Q

SNS and PSNS have complementary effect in:

A
  • Increasing salivary secretion
  • sympathetic increases thickness and viscous
  • PSNS increases watery secretion
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14
Q

In the SNS, the preganglionic neuron is _____ than the post-ganglionic neuron

A

Shorter

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15
Q

In the PSNS the preganglionic neuron is _____ than the post-ganglionic neuron

A

Longer

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16
Q

Pre-ganglionic neurons of the PNS are located:

A

In the craniosacral regions of the CNS

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17
Q

Pre-ganglionic neurons release NT’s onto:

A

Post-ganglionic neurons

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18
Q

In the SNS, the pre-and post-ganglionic neurons synapse:

A

In the paravertebral ganglia

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19
Q

In the PNS, the pre-and post-ganglionic neurons synapse:

A

Near or in the effector organs

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20
Q

True or false: Adrenal medulla is stimulated both by the SNS and PSNS

A

False- only SNS

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21
Q

After synapsing, post-ganglionic neurons then release NTs onto:

A

Effector organs

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22
Q

Do parasympathetic nerves innervate the blood vessels?

A

No, only SNS

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23
Q

Postganglionic neurons of the ANS store neurotransmitter within vesicles in ____ and release neurotransmitter over the surface of the target tissue

A

axon varicosities

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24
Q

Autonomic nerves are divided into what 2 groups?

A
  • Cholinergic
  • Adrenergic
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25
Q

Transmission of nerve impulses mediated by Ach

A

Cholinergic

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26
Q

Transmission of nerve impulses mediated by NE and E

A

Adrenergic

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27
Q

Noradrenaline is an alternative name for:

A

Norepinephrine (hence adrenergic)

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28
Q

Cholinergic nerves can synapse with what types of receptors?

A
  • Nicotinic (ligand-gated)
  • Muscarinic (GPCR)
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29
Q

Adrenergic nerves can synapse with what types of receptors?

A
  • alpha-1
  • alpha-2
  • beta-1
  • beta-2
  • beta-3

(all adrenergic receptors which are GPCRs)

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30
Q

Cholinergic receptors bind:

A

Ach

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31
Q

Where are nicotinic receptors located?

A
  • all post-ganglionic neurons of the ANS
  • adrenal medulla
  • neuromuscular junction of somatic nerves
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32
Q

Nicotinic receptors are _____

A

Ligand gated ion channels

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33
Q

True or false: nicotinic receptors are inhibitory usually

A

False - usually excitatory

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34
Q

Muscarinic receptors are ____

A

G-protein coupled receptors

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35
Q

Location of muscarinic receptors

A
  • All effector glands and tissue innervated by the PNS (M1, M2, M3)
  • Sweat glands innervated by the SNS
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36
Q

Muscarinic receptors can be ____ or _____

A

Excitatory or inhibitory

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37
Q

Why are muscarinic receptors both excitatory and inhibitory?

A

Depends on the associated G-protein and downstream signaling pathway

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38
Q

Examples of parasymapthetic nervous system effectors

A
  • smooth muscle
  • gland cells
  • nerve terminals
  • cardiac muscle
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39
Q

Examples of sympathetic nervous system effectors

A
  • sweat glands
  • smooth muscle
  • gland cells
  • nerve terminals
  • cardiac muscle
  • renal vasculature
  • smooth muscle
  • cardiac muscle
  • vessels
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40
Q

Somatic nerves synapse at _____. The NT associated is always ____

A

Skeletal muscle; Acetylcholine

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41
Q

Almost all _____ are adrenergic neurons, meaning that they release ____. All adrenergic receptors are ____

A

Sympathetic post-ganglionic neurons; GPCR’s

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42
Q

Activation of adrenergic receptors on effector glands and tissues initiates:

A

Diverse G-protein intracellular signaling mechanisms

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43
Q

Key locations of adrenergic receptors (alpha-1)

A
  • blood vessels
  • eye
  • bladder
  • prostate
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44
Q

Key locations of adrenergic receptors (alpha-2)

A
  • blood vessels
  • GI tract smooth muscles
  • CNS
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45
Q

Key locations of adrenergic receptors (beta-1)

A
  • heart
  • kidney
  • GI tract smooth muscle
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46
Q

Key locations of adrenergic receptors (beta-2)

A
  • lung
  • liver
  • blood vessels
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47
Q

Key locations of adrenergic receptors (beta-3)

A

detrusor muscle of the bladder

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48
Q

Subunits of G proteins

A

alpha, beta, gamma

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49
Q

True or false: G proteins can have a different set of alpha, beta, gamma subunits

A

True

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50
Q

Regarding G proteins, there are many different ___ subunits

A

alpha

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51
Q

The G protein complex is often characterized by:

A

The type of alpha subunit present

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52
Q

Examples of G protein alpha subunits: Ga(s)

A

Stimulated adenylyl cyclase

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53
Q

Examples of G protein alpha subunits: Ga(i)

A

Inhibits adenylyl cyclase

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54
Q

Examples of G protein alpha subunits: Ga(q)

A

Activated PLC-beta

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55
Q

True or false: GPCRs are dimeric

A

False - heterotrimeric

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56
Q

Somatic nervous system subdivision of the peripheral nervous system has 2 main functions, which are:

A
  • sensory input
  • movement control
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57
Q

Motor functions of the somatic nervous system are responsible for:

A
  • maintaining the body’s posture and balance
  • moving the trunk, head, links, tongue, eyes
  • communicating through facial expressions and speech
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58
Q

The somatic nervous system is a _____ - under conscious control

A

Voluntary motor system

59
Q

What are voluntary movements?

A

Movements that are consciously activated to achieve a specific goal, such as walking, typing chewing

60
Q

True or false: Although consciously activated, the details of most voluntary movements occur automatically

A

True

61
Q

Reflexes are ____ movements

A

Involuntary (occur without conscious thought)

62
Q

Reflexes are mediated through ____ and are responsible for ____ body movements

A

spinal cord and brainstem; some

63
Q

What is motor control?

A

Senses –> cognition –> action

64
Q

Through our ____, we perceive the world and our relationship to it

A

Senses

65
Q

What is cognition?

A

CNS processes sensory input to construct details of the environment

66
Q

Conscious actions require ________ to make actions adaptive and appropriate for a particular situation

A

Sensory input and cognitive processing

67
Q

In motor control, the final output is:

A

A set of commands to certain muscles in the body (ex. run from predator, seek shelter from rain, search for food when hungry, move lips and vocal cords to communicate)

68
Q

At the highest level, ____ controls voluntary movements

A

Motor cortex

69
Q

Motor cortex function

A

Processes information related to the planning and coordination of whole-body movements

70
Q

_____ make essential contributions to motor control

A

Basal ganglia and cerebellum

71
Q

At the most basic level, movement is controlled by _____, often with no help from the ____

A

Spinal cord; brain

72
Q

True or false: Distinct but highly interactive regions make similar contributions to motor control

A

False - UNIQUE contributions

73
Q

Voluntary movements result from stimulation of ____ neurons

A

Upper and lower motor neurons

74
Q

Upper motor neurons:
Cell bodies are in the _____
Axons form ____ that connect to _____

A
  • Cerebral cortex
  • Descending tracts; lower motor neurons
75
Q

Lower motor neurons: cell bodies are in:

A
  • Cranial nerve nuclei
  • Anterior horn of spinal cord
76
Q

Where do lower motor neurons send their axons out? What do they innervate?

A

Out of the brainstem and spinal cord; innervate skeletal muscles of the head and body (respectively)

77
Q

All commands for movement, whether voluntary or reflexive, are ultimately conveyed to ____ by activity of ____

A

Skeletal muscles; Lower motor neurons

78
Q

Somatic motor neurons are also called:

A

Alpha motor neurons

79
Q

Motor neurons that control limb and body movements are located in the ____ of the ___

A

Anterior horns of the spinal cord

80
Q

Somatic motor neurons synapse directly with:

A

Skeletal muscle and the NMJ

81
Q

What is a motor unit?

A

1 motor neuron plus all the muscle fibers that it innervates

A single motor neuron can branch at its axon terminal and innervate multiple fibers

82
Q

Motor units allow for:

A

Coordinated response of larger muscles

83
Q

A single muscle muscle fiber receives how many synapses? What does this mean?

A

One; Muscle cell is dependent on a single motor neuron for activation, providing great specificity for muscle control

84
Q

Motor unit pool

A

All the motor units within a muscle

85
Q

Motor units vary greatly in ____; a single somatic motor neuron may innervate ____ muscle fibers

A

Size; 3 to 2,000

86
Q

What is a small motor unit?

A

A single motor unit which innervated only a few muscle fibers

87
Q

Small motor units allow for:

A

Fine motor control in that muscle (ex. muscle that controls eye movement, fingers)

88
Q

What is a large motor unit?

A

A single motor unit which innervates thousands of muscle fibers

89
Q

Function of large motor unit

A

Coordinate the response of large muscles (ex. control large limb muscles, posture, walking)

90
Q

Different types of movements result from:

A

The activation of small and large motor units

91
Q

Motor unit recruitment: Increasing the number of motor units active at any one time increases ____

A

The amount of force produced by a muscle

92
Q

The progressive activation of motor units is called:

A

Recruitment

93
Q

The contraction of a whole muscle often require:

A

Hundreds of motor neurons to fire APs

94
Q

In what order are motor units recruited?

A

In a fixed order, according to their size

95
Q

True or false: Larger motor units are recruited and fire APs before smaller motor units are recruited

A

False: smaller before larger

96
Q

During motor unit recruitment, when synaptic input increases, what happens?

A
  • Progressively larger motor units are recruited
  • results in gradual increase in muscle contraction
97
Q

The orderly recruitment of motor neurons by size is known as:

A

Motor unit size principle

98
Q

Motor unit recruitment ____ the strength of muscle contraction

A

Increases

99
Q

AP frequency of motor neurons: frequency refers to ____

A

The number of APs delivered to a muscle within a set period of time

100
Q

An increase in the frequency of APs generated by motor neurons will:

A

Increase muscle contraction

101
Q

The increase in muscle force that occurs with increased AP frequency reflects the ____ of successive muscle contractions

A

Summation

102
Q

The muscle fibers are activated by the next AP before _____, and the forces generated by the temporally overlapping contractions are ____

A

They have had time to completely relax; Summed

103
Q

At the highest AP firing rated, summation grows stronger and individual muscle fibers become in a state of _____

A

Tetanus

104
Q

What is tetanus?

A
  • state of sustained maximal muscle contraction
  • also infectious disease caused by tetanospasmin
105
Q

True or false: muscle has time to relax between successive stimuli during tetanus

A

False

106
Q

Tetanus infection generally occurs through:

A

Wound contamination and often involves a cut or deep puncture wound

107
Q

____ is the site of many interneurons and complex neural circuits that perform the nuts and bolts of processing motor control

A

Spinal cord

108
Q

Spinal cord neurons can take charge of ____

A

Reflex movements

109
Q

What is a reflex?

A

Involuntary reaction in response to a stimulus applied to the periphery and transmitted to the CNS

110
Q

_____ allow quicker reaction to stimuli than is possible by conscious thought

A

Reflexes

111
Q

3 classes of nerves are the basic constituents of all neural circuits

A
  • sensory (afferent neurons)
  • interneurons
  • motor (efferent neurons)
112
Q

Components of a reflex arc are labeled in the order in which ____

A

AP;s pass through them

113
Q

Components of a reflex arc

A
  • receptor
  • sensory neuron
  • interneuron
  • motor neuron
  • effector organ
114
Q

In a reflex arc, ___ synapses with the interneuron at the _____

A

Afferent nerve; dorsal root

115
Q

Proper control of muscle function requires:

A
  • excitation of the muscle by the spinal cord anterior motor neurons
  • continuous feedback of sensory information from each muscle to the spinal cord
116
Q

Proprioception

A

Sense of the body’s position in space based on specialized receptors that reside in the muscles and tendons

117
Q

Types of muscle receptors

A
  • Muscle spindle
  • Golgi tendon organ
118
Q

____ signals the changes in the length of a muscle

A

Muscle spindle receptor

119
Q

____ signals the amount of force being applied to a muscle

A

Golgi organ tendon receptor

120
Q

Muscle spindles are ____ that are located within _____

A

Sensory receptors; the muscle itself

121
Q

Function of muscle spindles is to:

A

Detect changes in muscle length and the speed of change in muscle length

122
Q

Muscle spindles are referred to as ____

A

Intrafusal fibers

123
Q

Each muscle contains ___ muscle spindles

A

Many

124
Q

True or false: muscles necessary for fine movements contain less spindles than muscles that are used for posture or coarse movements

A

False - contain MORE

125
Q

When muscles lengthen, what happens to muscle spindles?

A

They stretch

126
Q

Muscle spindle stretch causes ____. This results in ____

A

AP’s to sent to the spinal cord; STRETCH REFLEX –> activation of more motor neurons at the spinal level that send an impulse back to the muscle, signals the muscle to contract with greater force to decrease the speed at which the muscle is being stretched

127
Q

Examples of stretch reflex

A
  • maintain proper posture
  • knee jerk test
  • protection from potential damage
128
Q

Where is golgi tendon organ located?

A

Between muscle and tendon

129
Q

Golgi tendon organ (GTO) signals information about:

A

The load or force being applied to the muscle

130
Q

When a GTO is stimulated, it causes:

A

Associated muscle to relax by interrupting its contraction (autogenic inhibition)

131
Q

The function of the GTO can be considered ____ of the muscle spindle

A

Opposite (serves to produce muscle contraction)

132
Q

Swallowing reflex: can be initiated ____ but thereafter it is almost entirely under ____

A

Voluntarily; reflex control

133
Q

Phases of swallowing

A
  • oral phase
  • pharyngeal phase
  • esophageal phase
134
Q

Oral phase of swallowing occurs ____ when the bolus of food is passed down towards the pharynx by ____

A

Voluntarily; elevating the tongue (a conscious decision)

135
Q

During the oral phase of swallowing, what nerves are activated?

A
  • sensory nerves from CN 5 and 9 in the pharynx
  • integration in the medulla initiated involuntary swallowing reflex
135
Q

Pharyngeal phase of swallowing occurs ____ when food enters the pharynx

A

Involuntarily

135
Q

Esophageal phase of swallowing occurs ____ in the esophagus

A

Involuntarily

136
Q

Steps of pharyngeal phase swallowing

A
  • activation of somatic and vagal nerved innervating skeletal muscle of pharynx; closes trachea
  • inhibition of vagal nerves at upper esophageal sphincter causes relaxation of UES
  • activation of vagal nerves innervating skeletal muscle of esophagus, causing a primary peristaltic contraction
136
Q

Steps of esophageal phase of swallowing

A
  • activation of vagal nerves innervating smooth muscle of the esophagus
  • activation of enteric nerves leads to continued peristaltic waves along esophagus
  • relation of the lower esophageal sphincter and receptive relaxation of the stomach
137
Q

What does the gag reflex involve?

A

Brisk and brief elevation of the soft palate and contraction of the pharyngeal muscles

138
Q

Gag reflex is stimulated by:

A

Touching posterior pharyngeal wall

139
Q

Gag reflex: sensory limb mediated by ____; motor limb by ____

A

CN 9; CN 10

140
Q

Touching the soft palate can lead to ___

A

Similar reflex response as the gag reflex - sensory limb is CN V

141
Q

True or false: gag reflex rarely interferes with dental procedures

A

False - often