brain stuff for final Flashcards
What is the CNS made up of?
The brain and spinal cord
What structures protect the CNS?
Meninges
What is the name of the condition where the meninges are inflamed?
Meningitis
What are the name of the 3 layers of the Meninges?
Dura mater, Arachnoid membrane, Pia mater
Dura mater
Thick, tough outer layer
Outermost covering of the brain, composed of tough fibrous connective tissue
Forms the periosteum of the skull
Arachnoid membrane
Thin cobweb-like layer
Pia mater
Thin layer containing lots of blood vessels
Innermost covering of the brain, delicate and vascular
What is located between the arachnoid layer and the pia mater
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
What is the purpose of the cerebrospinal fluid?
Protects the brain by preventing it from contacting the skull
What is composed of the cerebral cortex?
Gray matter with dendrites and soma
What is composed of the cerebral medulla?
White matter
What is the Basal nuclei?
Islands of gray matter
What´s the difference between white and gray matter?
The axons (white matter) send the info while the dendrites and soma (gray matter) process the info
Where do white and gray matter get their color?
The gray matter has an absence of myelin and the white matter has myelin in the tissue
What makes up the diencephalon?
Thalamus, hypothalamus, pineal gland
Where is the limbic system located?
Medial temporal lobes
What is the function of the midbrain?
Replays info to the cerebrum, controls body movement and posture
What is the function of the Pons?
Central control of the rhythm and quality of breath
3 nervous system functions
Sensory input- Detects changes in stimuli inside and outside the body
Integration- Processing and interpreting the information
Response- Activation of muscles (motor output)
What are neurons?
Conduct impulses around the body
makeup 10% of nerve cells
What are neuroglia?
(Nerve-glue)
Support, insulate, and protect neurons
90% of nerve cells
What do axons do?
Send impulses away from the cell body
Bare nerve endings
responsible for feeling pain, touch, and pressure
Golgi tendon organ
tells how much tension the muscle is exerting
Meissner´s (tactile) corpuscle
respond to touch and low-frequency vibration
ex: reading of Braille using the fingertips.
or if you lay your pen down in your palm, the Meissner’s and Pacinian corpuscles will fire rapidly as it first touches down, to let you know something has landed.
Lamellated corpuscle
sensory receptors for vibration and deep pressure and are essential for proprioception
muscle spindle
they sense how much and how fast a muscle is lengthened or shortened
Sensory receptors found in the skin, which are specialized to detect temp, pressure changes, and pain
Cutaneous sense organs
Specialized cells; myelinate the fibers of neurons found in the PNS
Schwann cells
Junction or point of close contact between neurons
Synapse
Bundle of nerve processes inside the CNS
Tract
Neuron, serving as a part of the conduction pathway between sensory and motor neurons
Association neuron or interneuron
Gaps in myelin sheath
Nodes of Ranvier
Collection of a nerve bodies found outside the CNS
Ganglion
Neurons that conduct impulses away from the CNS to muscles and glands
Efferent neuron
Sensory receptors found in muscle and tendons that detect their degree of stretch
Proprioceptors
Changes, occurring within or outside the body, that can affect the nervous system functioning
Stimuli
Neurons that conduct impulses towards the CNS and from the body and the periphery
Afferent neuron
Chemicals released by neurons that stimulate other neurons, muscles, or glands
Neurotransmitters
What is the order of the minimum elements in a reflex arc from the stimulus to the effector?
Stimulus, receptor, afferent neuron, efferent neuron, effector organ
Where is cerebrospinal fluid located?
Ventricles (cavities in the brain)
What is a ridge in the cerebral cortex tissue?
Gyrus
What is a groove in the cerebral cortex tissue?
Sulcus (dents/insides)
The convolutions (complex top of the cerebrum) are important because they increase..
surface area
Gray matter is composed of?
Neuron bodies and unmylinated
White matter is composed of?
Myelinated fibers
Slight and transient brain injury
Concussion
Traumatic injury that destroy brain tissue
Contusion
Total non responsiveness to stimulation
Coma
May cause medulla to be wedges into foramen magnum by pressure of blood
Intracranial hemorrhage (ruptured blood vessel)
After head injury, retention of water by brain with swelling
Cerebral edema
Results when a brain region is deprived of blood or exposed to prolonged ischemia
Cerebrovascular accident CVA
Progressive degeneration of brain with abnormal protein deposits
Alzheimer´s
Autoimmune disorder with extensive demyelination
Multiple sclerosis (hardening of body tissue)
A mini stroke; fleeting symptoms of CVA
Transient ischemic attack
