5.5.5 - Plant And Animal Responses Flashcards
Two types of nervous system
- Central
- Peripheral
Two parts of the CNS
- Brain
- Spinal Cord
Two (necessary) neurones in peripheral Nervous System
- Motor
- Sensory
Function of the motor neurone
Bring about a response
Function of sensory neurone
Detect a change in the environment (stimuli) and transmit an action potential to the CNS.
Function of motor neurone
Bring about a response
Two types of motor neurone response
- Autonomic
- Somatic
Two types of autonomic response
- what are they used for?
- Sympathetic - stressed situations - fight or flight
- Parasympathetic - calm/conserve situations
Examples of sympathetic response
- dilate pupil
- orgasm
- increase blood flow to gut
- decrease digestive activity
- makes liver release more glucose
- increase breathing rate
- increase heart rate
- increase blood flow to skeletal muscle
Examples of parasympathetic response
8 examples
- constricts pupils
- sexual arousal
- increase blood flow to gut (smooth muscle)
- increases digestive activity
- makes liver take up more glucose and convert to glycogen
- decreases breathing rate
- decreases heart rate
- decrease blood flow to skeletal muscle
Role of the CNS
- Its role is for coordinating nervous responses
- contains many synapses
What is the brain mostly made up of (tissues)?
Mostly made of non‐myelinated relay neurones - called grey matter
What is the spinal cord made up of (tissues)?
- Contains grey matter and white matter - Contains myelinated relay neurones for more rapid communication.
What is the PNS (Peripheral)made up of (tissues)?
- mostly of sensory and motor neurones
- connects receptors (which sense stimuli) to the CNS and then connect them to effectors (muscles and glands)
- this brings about a response
Sensory nervous system info
- Connects receptors to the CNS
- Dendrons of the neurones enters the spinal cord at the dorsal root where the cell body also is.
- The short axon connects to relay neurones in the CNS
Motor neurone system info.
- Connects the CNS to effectors
- Split into the autonomic and somatic nervous systems
Somatic nervous system info
- made of motor neurones under voluntary control, e.g. controlling skeletal muscles
- made mostly of myelinated neurones
- this makes responses fast
- single motor neurones connect CNS and effectors
Autonomic nervous system info
- What processes does it control?
- motor neurones under involuntary control, examples:
- controlling glands
- controlling cardiac muscle
- controlling smooth muscle in the gut
- controlling muscle in eyes
- controlling muscle in blood vessels or airways
- Mostly made of non-myelinated neurones
- this means responses are slower
- as least 2 neurones between CNS and effector connected at ganglia (swellings) containing their cell bodies
What is the significance of the autonomic system being antagonistic?
- Antagonistic means:
- depending on certain internal conditions or stress, balance between the -para and sympathetic systems will change to bring about an appropriate response
When is the parasympathetic system more active?
Times of rest/calm
When is the sympathetic system more active?
In times of stress - fight or flight
Sympathetic system structure and info
- Short preganglionic neurone
- ganglia near CNS
- many nerves leave CNS
- noradrenaline is neurotransmitter
- active in fight/flight or stress
Parasympathetic system structure and info
- long preganglionic neurone
- ganglia near organs
- a few nerves leave CNS then split up to go to effectors
- acetylcholine is neurotransmitter
- active is calm/rest - conserve
Autonomic nervous system def
Part of the nervous system responsible for controlling the involuntary motor activities of the body
Central Nervous system def
Central part of the nervous system composed of the brain and spinal cord
Peripheral nervous system def
The sensory and motor nerves connecting the sensory receptors and effectors to the CNS
Somatic nervous system def
The motor neurones under conscious control
Four main parts of the brain and their functions
- Cerebrum - the largest part and organises most of our higher thought processes, such as conscious thought and memory
- Cerebellum - which coordinates movement and balance
- Hypothalamus and Pituitary Complex - which organises homeostatic responses and controls various physiological processes
- Medulla Oblongata - which coordinates many of the autonomic responses
Cerebellum def
Region of the brain coordinating balance and fine control of movement
Cerebrum def
Region of the brain dealing with the higher functions such as conscious thought
It is divided into two cerebral hemispheres
Hypothalamus def
The part of the brain that coordinates homeostatic responses
Medulla oblongata def
Region of the brain that controls physiological responses
Pituitary gland info
- What do the anterior and posterior lobe do?
- Endocrine gland at the base of the brain, below but attached to the hypothalamus
- the anterior lobe secretes many hormones
- the posterior lobe stores and releases hormones made in the hypothalamus
Cerebrum structure
- Has two central hemispheres - connected by major tracts of neurones called the corpus callosum
- Outermost layer of the cerebrum consists of a thin layer of nerve cell bodies called the cerebral cortex
What does cerebrum control
- Conscious thought
- Conscious actions (incl. the ability to override some reflexes
- emotional responses
- intelligence, reasoning, judgement and decision-making
- factual memory
Function of motor area subdivision in the cerebral cortex
- Motor areas: send action potentials to various effectors (muscles and glands)
- Size of the regions are proportional to the complexity of the area it controls
- Motor areas on the left side of the brain control right side of the body, vice versa
Function of sensory area subdivision in the cerebral cortex
- These areas receive action potentials directly from the sensory receptors
- sizes of the areas are related/proportional to the sensitivity of the area inputs are received from
Function of association area subdivision in the cerebral cortex
- Compare sensory inputs with previous experience
- they can interpret what the input means and judge an appropriate response
Sensory receptors that provide a stimulus for the cerebellum
- Retina in the eye
- Balance organs in the inner ear
- Spindle fibres in the muscles - give information about muscle length and the joints
Where does the conscious decision to contract voluntary muscles come from?
Initiated in the cerebral cortex
List examples of functions of the cerebellum
- Maintaining body position and balance
- Judging the position of objects and limbs while moving about or playing sport
- Tensioning muscles - in order to use tools and play musical instruments effectively
- Coordinating contraction and relaxation of antagonistic skeletal muscles when walking and running
How do you strengthen the pathways in the cerebellum?
- Practice of the same movements and coordinations can strengthen complex neural pathways
- Complex activity becomes “programmed” into cerebellum
- So neurones from the cerebellum conduct action potentials to the motor areas, so that motor output to effectors can be finely controlled
How are cerebellum and cerebral cortex controlled?
They are connected by the “pons” (?)
Function of hypothalamus
- Controls homeostatic mechanisms in the body
- it contains its own sensory receptors and acts by negative feedback to maintain a constant internal environment
Examples of hypothalamus homeostatic control:
- Temperature regulation:
- Osmoregulation:
Pituitary gland and hypothalamus
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Medulla Oblongata function
- Controls the non-skeletal muscles (cardiac muscles and involuntary smooth muscle)
- It does this by sending action potentials out through the autonomic nervous system.
- The medulla Oblongata contains multiple centres for regulating several vital processes
Different centres of the medulla Oblongata and what they control/regulate
- Cardiac centre: regulates heart rate
- Vasomotor centre: regulates circulation and blood pressure
- Respiratory centre: controls the rate and depth of breathing
How do centres in the medulla oblongata receive information?
They receive sensory information and coordinate vital functions by “negative feedback”
What is grey matter?
Non-myelinated neurones
What is white matter?
Myelinated relay neurones - allow faster responses/action potentials
Knee jerk reflex def
A reflex action that straightens the leg when the tendon below the knee cap is tapped
Reflex action def
A response that does not involve any processing or coordination by the brain
Short reflex pathway
- Impulse received at sensory neurone
- Impulse goes to relay neurone
- Travels to a motor neurone which stimulates response from the effector
Why do we need reflex actions?
- They have survival value
- A reflex may be used to get out of danger
- To avoid damage to part of the body
- to maintain balance
What is the blinking reflex
Causes temporary closure of the eyelids to protect the eyes from damage
Pathway for blinking reflex
- passes through the brain - is a cranial reflex
- pathway does not involve any conscious movements or brain coordination
How may blinking be stimulated?
- a foreign object touching the eye (the corneal reflex)
- sudden bright light (the optical reflex)
- loud sounds
- sudden movements close to the eye
Corneal reflex mechanism
- the reflex is mediated by a sensory neurone form the cornea
- this enters the pons.
- a synapse connects the sensory neurone to a relay neurone
- this passes the action potential to the motor neurone.
- the motor neurone passes back out of the brain to the facial muscles
- this causes the eyelid muscles to blink
- this is a short and direct pathway
- so the reflex is very fast - takes about 0.1 seconds
- signal is sent to brain to notify it about the change/movement
Optical reflex mechanism
- protects the light sensitive cells of the retina from damage
- stimulus is detected by the retina
- reflex is mediated by the optical centre in the cerebral cortex
- optical reflex is slightly slower than the corneal reflex
Knee jerk reflex info
- it is a spinal reflex - nervous pathway passes through the spinal cord rather than through the brain
Knee jerk reflex mechanism
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Examples of fight or flight responses and reasons
- Increased heart rate
- increased rate of blood flow - more oxygen and glucose to respiring cells to release more energy
- increased breathing rate and depth
- Faster rate of gas exchange = more oxygen in blood = more aerobic respiration to release more energy
- arterioles to skin and digestive system vasoconstrict and ones to muscle vasodilate
- Less oxygen to skinand digestive system (not needed in response) and more to muscles = more aerobic respiration in muscles to release more energy for muscle contraction
- pupils dilate
- allow more light on retina to see better
- increase in Glycogenolysis in the liver
- more glucose in blood for higher rate of respiration to release more energy
- metabolic rate increases
- More glucose converted to ATP for energy for response
- erector muscles in skin contract
- Make hairs stand up ‐ appear bigger to warn off individuals to avoid conflict and injury
- endorphins are released in the brain
- these negate some pain when an injury is inflicted upon the animal - it can keep on fighting
How brain coordinates response in fight or flight response
- Receptors sense threatening stimulus
- Action potential sent to sensory centres in cerebrum and then to association centres which coordinates the response
- Cerebrum stimulates hypothalamus in response to threat
- Hypothalamus stimulates sympathetic nervous system and the anterior pituitary gland
Role of sympathetic nervous system in fight or flight response
- increases activity of effectors via nervous impulses for rapid response
- stimulates the adrenal medulla to release adrenaline (bringing about response in effectors) for longer response
Action/Mechanism of adrenaline on fight or flight response
- Adrenaline acts as a first messenger by travelling through the blood and binding to receptors on the cell surface membrane of its target cells
- Binding causes a G-protein on the membrane to activate the enzyme adenyl cyclase
- this converts ATP to cyclic AMP - a second messenger.
- this brings about the effect in the cell