Central Nervous System Flashcards
The CNS “CPU of the body” consumes how much resources?
15% Cardiac Output
20% Oxygen
25% Glucose
What are the two division of the CNS?
Brain
Spinal Cord
What are the functions of the Medulla Oblongata?
Location of many control centers of the body, breathing, heart rate, vasomotor, vomiting, and RAS (Reticular Activating System)
Mainly sympathetic nervous system fibers come out here, but some parasympathetic ones do also
What is located in the Diencephalon?
Thalamus and Hypothalamus
What is the Thalamus in charge of?
Posterior Pituitary Gland
What are the functions of the Cerebellum?
Controls movement and coordination
What are the functions of the Cerebrum?
Conscious perception, thought and conscious motor activity
Two hemispheres: Right and Left
What are the CNS neurotransmitters (7)?
Glutamate GABA Dopamine Norepinephrine Serotonin Histamine Acetylcholine
What are the functions of RAS?
Responsible for cyclical activities. For example, the Sleep/Awake cycle.
What is the initial transmitter released by the RAS (Reticular Activating System)?
Histamine
What does histamine do in the RAS?
Stimulates all other neurotransmitters to be released allowing normal awake functions to occur
What is the Area Postremia?
The Vomiting Trigger Zone (VTZ)
What receptors trigger the Area Postremia?
Dopamine
Serotonin
Histamine
Opiates
What are the primary and secondary receptors that get blocked by traditional anti-psychotics?
Dopamine and Histamine
What needs to happen for us to have smooth muscle movements?
A balance of Dopamine and Acetylcholine
What is a side effect of Dopamine inhibition?
Extra prymidial symptoms (EPS), aka Dystonia/Distonic reaction
What is a side effect of histamine inhibition?
Sedation
What is another term for Acetylcholine inhibition?
Muscarinic antagonist
What is a side effect of adrenergic inhibition?
An alpha-1 blockade, resulting in hypotension
What does Benadryl do?
Benadryl is an acetylcholine and histamine antagonist but is not typically thought of as a muscarinic antagonist.
Proper doses make you sleepy
High doses make you hyper, irritable, and agitated
What is Glutamate?
Excitatory NT that is released from multiple areas of the brain, and is believed responsible for memory and pain
What does the NMDA receptor do when activated by Glutamate?
Allows Ca++ and Na+ into the neuron and K+ out of the neuron
What does Dopamine effect?
Cognition Vomiting Voluntary movement Motivation Punishment Reward Sleep Mood Attention Working memory Learning
What does Norepinephrine do in the CNS?
Generally a excitable NT associated with arousal and reward. Also found in vasomotor center in medulla (vasomotor tone, description of how excited the neurons in the medulla are)
Where is the Alpha-2 receptor located and what does it do?
Located on presynaptic terminal
Different from most receptors we have discussed, most are located post-synaptic.
The more norepinephrine on the alpha-2 receptor the more active the sympathetic nervous system will be
Alpha-2 primarily effects breathing and vasomotor responses
What does the serotonin receptor do?
Excitatory NT associated with memory, learning, temperature, mood, behavior, pain, vomiting, and sleep
What does the histamine receptor do?
Generally an excitatory NT associated with balance, vomiting and the RAS (Reticular activating system)
What is GABA?
Inhibitory NT in many parts of the brain
Decreases the activity of the brain
