Lecture #5 Flashcards
what does the PNS include?
sensory and motor neurons
what are the two divisions of the motor portion?
somatic motor division and the visceral motor division
describe the somatic motor division:
motor axons leave the CNS to enter in contact with skeletal muscles → voluntary
describe the visceral motor division:
autonomic nervous system which is involuntary and divided into two branches → these neurons can innervate smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands (effectors)
what are the two branches of the visceral motor division?
orthosympathetic and parasympathetic
what is the role of the CNS?
the integration of the information coming from the sensory branch and the interaction with the motor components that control the effectors
where are all the PNS neurons generated from?
the neural crest
what are the glial cells that support the functionality of the PNS?
Schwann cells (derive from neural crest cells)
visually, what are the two parts of the CNS?
grey matter and white matter
what is the grey matter of the brain?
region in which there’s a tight accumulation of neuronal cell bodies with nuclei
what is the white matter in the brain?
region where we have bundles of myelinated axons that often surround the grey matter
what are the three subdomains of a neuron?
dendrite, cell body, axon
what is the role of the dendrite?
receive the information from other cells
what is the role of the cell body?
region containing the nucleus which tells the cells what to do
describe the structure of the axon:
characterized by the presence of a sheath of cells called myelin: cytoplasmic bundles derived from oligodendrocytes in the CNS and Schwann cells in the PNS → constitute an insulating layer for the salatory conduction of the action potential
what is located in the gaps between the myelin?
Nodes of Ranvier → where the axon is naked and where an additional action potential is generated
what are the three types of neurons?
sensory, motor, and interneurons
describe sensory neurons:
located near specific receptors or organs that receive signals from the environment and send them to the CNS
describe motor neurons:
located inside of the CNS and send messages along he axons to effector cells (muscles and glands) → carry impulses to effectors to initiate a response
describe interneurons:
relay messages between other neurons such as sensory and motor → elaborate the signals
most often found in the brain and spinal cord
what is the name of the membrane that wraps a nerve?
epineurium
inside the neuron, what groups and wraps the fascicles?
perineurium
what are the individual axons covered by?
endometrium + the glial cells producing the myelin (Schwann cells)
what does the simplest neural network consist of?
a sensory neuron connected to a motor neuron connected to a muscle cell
what is a synapse?
a region in which a presynaptic neuron (sending cell) makes a functional interaction with the dendrite (rarely in the soma) of a postsynaptic cell (receiving cell)
what is the presynaptic terminal characterized by?
a huge number of mitochondria and cytoplasmic vesicles containing the neurotransmitters, which are released in the thin space that spears the membranes of the two neurons
describe the system at the synapses:
electrochemical: on one side we have electrical signals coming from the presynaptic axon, and on the other hand we have the release of neurotransmitters in the cleft, which are then recognized by receptors on the postsynaptic cells
receptors at the post synaptic level are in most cases ion channels
what happens when neurons are electrically paired?
two membranes are fused together, so the cytoplasm of the presynaptic neuron is in connection with the cytoplasm of the post synaptic one → gap junction