3.5.1-3 Nervous System Flashcards
What is the ‘coordinator’ in the CNS?
The network of inter-neurones connecting the sensory and motor systems. It’s job is to receive impulses from sensory neurones and transmit impulses to motor neurones
What are effectors in the CNS?
Effectors are the cells which effect a response.
What are the only two effectors in humans?
Muscles and Glands
What are the two types of glands and what to they do differently?
- Exocrine Glands, which secrete liquids to the outside like sweat.
- Endocrine Glands, which secrete hormones to the bloodstream
What is another name for a nerve cell?
Neurone
What is the composition of a neurone?
A cell body with extensions leading off of it in opposite directions
What is the side of the nerve called which carries nerve impulses toward the cell body and what are the ends called?
Dendrons, ending with dendrites
What is the name of the extension in a neurone which carries nerve impulses away from the cell body?
an Axon
What is the difference between a neurone and a nerve?
A neurone is a nerve cell, a nerve is a bundle of neurones.
What is the name of the point at which impulses are passed from one neurone to another?
Synapse
What are Schwann cells and what do they do?
Companion cells to the neurones which wrap around the axon to form a thick lipid layer called the myelin sheathe which electrically insulates the axon by preventing diffusion of ions out of the axon
What are the gaps in the myelin sheathe called?
Nodes of Ranvier
What are the three types of neurones in Humans?
- Sensory neurones
- Effector Neurones
- Interneurones
What does a sensory neurone look like?
Long dendrons on one side, an axon on the other, with a cell body in the middle
What do effector neurones look like?
Dendrites surrounding the cell body and long axons to connect to effectors
What do Interneurones look like?
(For recognition in exam, not specific vocab) Short axons and dendrons, big looking cell body
What is a stimulus?
Changes in the external or internal environment
What protein pump do all animal cell membranes have, which maintains the membrane potential?
Na+K+ATPase Protein Pump
How does the sodium potassium protein pump work to maintain an ion gradient across cell membranes?
It uses energy from ATP to simultaneously pump 3 sodium ions out of the cell and 2 potassium ions into the cell, whilst potassium and sodium channels allow leakage of potassium and sodium back down their concentration gradients. This causes a potential difference across the cell membrane
What is the potential difference across all animal cell membranes called?
Membrane potential
Is the membrane potential always negative/positive inside the cell?
The membrane potential is always negative inside the cell
How are the channels in nerve and muscle cells gated?
They are voltage gated which means that they can open and close based on the size of the voltage across the membrane
What does it mean for a muscle or nerve cell to be electrically excitable?
They can change their membrane potential
What is the resting membrane potential of a nerve cell?
-70mV
What are the two phases of an action potential?
Depolarisation and Repolarisation
What is an action potential, in relation to membrane potential?
A reversal of the membrane potential for about a millisecond
What occurs during the depolarisation phase of an action potential?
The sodium channels open, causing sodium ions to diffuse into the cell down their concentration gradient, making the inside of the cell more positive.
What occurs during the Repolarisation stage of an Action Potential?
Potassium channels open, causing potassium ions to diffuse out of the cell, down their concentration gradient, making the inside more negative again.
At what voltage do voltage gated sodium channels open, causing depolarisation?
-30mV
At what voltage do the voltage gated potassium channels open, causing Repolarisation?
0V
What voltage activates the Sodium potassium pump?
It is active constantly, regardless of voltage across the membrane
How are nerve impulses started?
Appropriately gated sodium channels in their respective receptor cells opening due to their respective stimulus, which causes depolarisation of the membrane potential which affects the voltage gated sodium channels nearby, causing an action potential.
How are nerve impulses propagated?
Once an action potential has started on one end of an axon, it moves along it automatically s nearby voltage gated sodium channels are opened in response to the reversal of the membrane potential
What is the refractory period?
The amount of time after a sodium channel has opened that is necessary for it to close and open again