Lecture 5-8 Flashcards
1
Q
Define Saggital plane
A
A cut right between the eyes, a side view of the brain
2
Q
Define contralateral
A
Structures on the opposite sides of the body
3
Q
Define Ipsalateral
A
Structures on the same sides of the body
4
Q
Define deep and superficial
A
Away from surface, close to surface
5
Q
What is CNS made of
A
Brain and Spinal Cord
6
Q
What is PNS made of
A
Anything apart from brain and spinal cord
7
Q
What is the main difference between Schwann cells and Oligodendrocytes
A
Schwann cells are found in the PNS and only produce myelin sheath for one axon at a time, whereas Oligodendrocytes are found in the CNS and produce myelin sheath for multiple axons at a time
8
Q
What is lymp, how is it made, and what are its functions
A
Lymph is extracellular fluid of the body that leaks out of small holes in blood vessels, it flows around cells collecting waste and providing nutrients.
9
Q
What are lymph nodes for
A
Lymph nodes is where lymph ends up, any collected waste and/or debris is broken down, after it is done, lymph is returned to the blood
10
Q
What is blood brain barrier?
A
It is a property of blood vessels in the brain. Unlike ones in PNS, brain blood vessels do not have small holes that leak lymph. Brain takes any necessary nutrients from the blood by itself.
11
Q
What is the alternative for lymph produced by the brain?
A
Cerebrospinal Fluid
12
Q
What are the three meninges? What are their functions and properties
A
Dura mater is the outer layer, it is thick and tough unstretchable tissue. Arachnoid membrane is soft and spongy middle layer. Pia mater is the space that has blood vessels in it and sits closest to the brain
13
Q
Where is CSF made?
A
In choroid plexus, tissue that is found in each of four brain ventricles
14
Q
Where are lateral ventricles found?
A
Underneath the cerebrum
15
Q
Where is the third ventricle located
A
Between the two thalamic nuclei
16
Q
Where is the fourth ventricle found?
A
Between the pons and cerebellum
17
Q
What is cerebral aqueduct and what does it connect?
A
It is a long tube-like structure that connects the third and fourth ventricle.
18
Q
What are efferent fibers and what type of neurons is considered efferent
A
Efferent fibers are fibers that bring information away from the Central Nervous system. The soma of motor neurons is located in the spinal cord and sends info away from CNS
19
Q
What arte afferent fibers and what type of neurons is considered afferent
A
Afferent fibers are fibers that bring information towards the Central Nervous System. Sensory neurons are considered afferent for they bring sensory info towards the CNS
20
Q
How many pairs of spinal nerves are there and how do they attach to the spinal cord
A
There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, 1 pair for each vertebrae
21
Q
How many cranial nerves are there and where do they attach
A
There are 12 cranial nerves that attach to the ventral part of the brain
22
Q
What are the functions of cranial nerves? What is the exception?
A
Cranial nerves are responsible for sensory and motor function in the face and neck area. The exception is 10th cranial nerve called vagus which is responsible for regulating functions in the abdominal area
23
Q
Why is gray matter gray?
A
Because it is made up of cell bodies
24
Q
Why is white matter white?
A
Because it is made of myelinated axons
25
What is somatic nervous system responsible for?
It is responsible for controlling skeletal and muscle movements and processing sensory information that relates to the outside world. Generally somatic ns senses and interacts with the external environment
26
What is autonomic nervous system responsible for? What are its divisions?
It is responsible for sensaton and regulation of smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands. ANS generally interacts with body's internal environment. It further splits into sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions
27
What is the role of Sympathetic division of ANS?
Priming body for fight or flight, it is always active to some extent for it controls blood circulation, heart rate, and almost every organ in the body, but when the threat is present, it shuts down every organ that is not crucial for survivial.
28
What is the role of Parasympathetic division?
It is responsible for regulating processes that occur when the body is in its relaxed state, mate and digest, responsible for sexual arousal, urination, defecation etc etc
29
What are the three major divisions of the human brain?
Hindbrain, Midbrain, Forebrain
30
What is the most caudal part of the brain stem called?
Medulla Oblongata
31
What is the role of Medulla
Regulating different autonomic functions such as heart rate, blood flow, breathing, etc.
32
In what area of medulla is blood brain barrier noticeably weak? What happens if poisons are detected in that area?
Area postrema. Brain will initiate vomiting reflex
33
What is retucilar formation important for?
Sleep and Arousal
34
What is the role of Pons?
Relaying information between the cerebrum and cerebellum.
35
What is the role of cranial nerve nuclei that are found in pons?
They participate in hearing, balance, taste, sensations and movements of the face
36
What is the role of cerebellum?
Motor control. it does not initiate movement, but contributes to its coordination, precision and accurate timing. It integrates sensory info and motor commands to exert a coordinating and smoothing effect on movement and cognition. It also plays an important pole in motor learning, especially when body grows and changes/
37
What type of cell division do neural progenitor cells exhibit during the first 40 days after conception?
Symmetrical cell division, one cell becomes two of the same type
38
What type of cell division do neural progenitor cells exhibit after the first 40 days after conception? How long does this period of division last for?
Asymmetrical cell division, the cell creates one neural progenitor cell and either one neuron or glial cell. It last for 85 days
39
Define neurogenesis
Production of new neurons by neural progenitor cells
40
Define apoptosis
Programmed cell self-destruction
41
Why does apoptosis occur?
To ensure that the cell does not cause negative effects on the organism as a whole, usually if the cell doesn't know where to go or cannot perform its functions, it self-destructs
42
What is the general role of the midbrain?
Orchestrating complex reflexive behaviors, such as species typical responses to threats, responses to lights and sounds
43
What are the two major parts of the midbrain?
Tectum and tegmentum
44
What is tectum and where is it found, what are its major parts
It appears as two bumps on the dorsal part of the midbrain and is divided into two coliculi.
45
Define the role of superior coliculi
Superior coliculi are responsible for orienting the animal towards the things seen in peripheral vision. Damage to the superior coliculi may result in the animal being oblivious of things in their peripheral
46
Define the role of inferior coliculi
Inferior coliculi are responsible for orienting the animal towards unexpected sounds, damage to the inferior coliculi may result in the animal being oblivious to sudden audio stumuli
47
What is the role of tegmentum?
Coordinating and motivating complex species-typical movements. Some areas of tegmentum process pain and orchestrate behavioral responses to threats
48
What is hypothalamus and what are the roles of its nuclei
Hypothalamus is a bilateral structure made up of several nuclei that generally regulate autonomic NS activity. It is critically involved in behaviors that directly relate to survival or four F's: feeding, fighting, fleeing and fucking hah. Different hypothalamic nuclei control sleep-wake cycles, hunger, and social behavior. One of the most impoerant funcions of hypothalamus is linking the nervous system to endocrine system via pituitary gland
49
Define Hormone
Chemical substance released by endocrine gland that has an effect on target cells in other ograns
50
What does Endocrine Gland do
Endocrine gland secretes hormones into the bloodstream.
51
What is the role of thalamus
Thalamus works as a relay station between forebrain and midbrain. It relays various sensory information to the different regions of the cerebral cortex.
52
What does longitudinal fissure separate
The two hemispheres
53
What does lateral fissure separate
It separates frontal lobe from temporal lobe
54
What does central sulcus separate
Rostral and caudal divisions of the cerebral hemisphere
55
What does frontal lobe control
Movement
56
What does parietal lobe process
Touch information
57
What does occipital lobe process
Visual information
58
What does temporal lobe process
Auditory information
59
Where is smell processed
in the junction of frontal, parietal and temporal lobes inside the lateral fissure
60
Where is taste processed
Insular cortex
61
Were is smell processed
Piriform cortex
62
What part of the brain contains motor neurons that synapse in the spinal cord? Where is it found
The primary motor cortex in the frontal lobe
63
Where does touch information first enter the cerebral cortex
Somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe
64
Where does visual information first enter the cerebral cortex?
In the primary visual cortex that is found in the occipital lobe
65
Where does auditory information first enter the cerebral cortex?
In the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe
66
Where is insular cortex located and what information first enters cerebral cortex through that structure
Insular cortex is located in the lateral fissure and gustatory or taste information first enters the cerebral cortex through it
67
What is sensory association cortex
Areas adjacent to primary sensory cortexes where information is being sent (from the primary sensory cortexes)
68
What is sensory association cortex responsible for?
That's where perception takes place and where memories are stored
69
What is basal ganglia and what are its roles
Basal ganglia is a collection of nuclei in the forebrain that is located beneath lateral ventricles. As a circuit nuclei of basal ganglia regulate intentional movements, motivation, reinforcement learning and habits.
70
Where do inputs and outputs of basal ganglia go?
Inputs of basal ganglia come from all over the forebrain, especially the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. Some of its outputs descend to midbraina nd hindbrain nuclei that regulate movement. it also has outputs that ascend to thalamus and cerebral cortex which regulate sensory processing and decision making.
71
What does limbic system regulate?
Emotions and episodic memories
72
What is limbic system comprised of?
Hippocampus, amygdala and cingulate cortex
73
Where is cingulate cortex located?
Right above corpus callosum, it overlies it interconnecting many limbic areas of the brain
74
What is hippocampus critical for?
For explicit memory formation
75
What is the amygdala critical for?
Recognizing emotion, particularly fear
76
What is the main excitatory neurotransmitter and why?
Glutamate. Because all ionotropic glutamate receptors let sodium in
77
What is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter and why?
GABA because all ionotropic gaba receptors let chloride in
78
What are main neuromodulators and what effects do they have?
Serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine and norepinephrine. In contrast to glutamate and gaba, neuromodulators tend to primarily act on metabotropic receptors and exert more of a modilatory influence on postsynaptic cell activity
79
Why do neuromodulators are put in a separate category?
Because they don't typically produce simple excitatory or inhibitory effects on a CNS. Most of their receptors are g-protein coupled receptors and not ion channels. And they often diffuse short distances outside the synapse and can influence the activity of neighboring neurons
80
Where are conventional neurotransmitters made, where are they released, what are the procedures to their recapture, what are their effects and to what receptors do they bind?
Conventional neurotransmitters are usually made in axon terminals, and released from synaptic vesicles that sit close to the presynaptic membrane and wait for Ca2+ entry to be released, after the release they can be recaptured by reuptake pump or broken down by enzymes and reused after, usually activate ionotropic AND metabotropic receptors and bind directly onto the postsynaptic receptors across the synaptic cleft
81
What are neuropeptides, where are they synthesized, where are they released from, what receptors do they activate and how are they recycled.
Short strings of amino-acids that are synthesized in cell body and travel along the axon where further modifications are made. They are generally released from dense core vesicles that sit away from the presynaptic membrane and are only released when many action potentials are triggered. They are not recycled and only activate metabotropic receptors.
82
What are monoamines and why are they put under the same category?
Serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine and called monoamines because they have a very similar chemical and three-dimensional structure. The protein that packages each of these neurotransmitters into synaptic vesicles is the same. Its name is vesicular monoamine transporter or VMAT.
83
What is the classification of monoamines? Which monoamines fall under what category?
They are split into catecholamines and indolamines. Norepinephrine and dopamine are considered catecholamines and serotonin is considered an indolamine.
84
What are the names of reuptake transporter proteins for Setotonin, Dopamine, and Norepinephrine?
For serotonin reuptake transporter protein, the name is SERT, for dopamine it's DAT, and for norepinephrine it's NET
85
What neurons release acetylcholine in PNS and what are the effects?
Motor neurons are the ones releasing acetylcholine in the PNS at neuromuscular junction where it activates fast excitatory ionotropic receptors on muscle cells that cause muscle contraction.
86
How does black widow spider venom work?
It replaces Ca2+ at its entry site causing a constant release of acetylcholine. An excessive amount of this neurotransmitter leads to spasms, pain and nausea
87
What does botox do?
It prevents a release of acetylcholine causing muscle paralysis
88
What is neostigmine and how does it help treat Myasthenia Gravis?
Neostigmine is a drug that inhibits activity of acetylcholineesterase which breaks down acetylcholine in the synaptic cleft. It causes acetylcholine to hang around in the synapse for longer periods of time.
89
Define a drug
An exogenous substance that at relatively low doses significantly alters the function of certain cells
90
What is a dirty drug?
Drug that binds to more than one type of receptor
91
What is biased agonism?
When a metabotropic receptor ligand causes the receptor to preferentially activate one type of intracellular g protein whereas another ligrand at the same receptor might preferentially activcate a different type of g protein
92
What are direct agonists/antagonists?
Drugs that affect postsynaptic receptor activity by directly binding to postsynaptic receptors
93
What are indirect agonists/antagonists?
Drugs that affect postsynaptic receptor activity in an indirect manner; proteins they bind to are not postsynaptic receptors
94
What is an agonist
Drug that directly or indirectly increases the activity of postsynaptic receptor proteins
95
What is an antagonist
Drug that indirectly or directly reduces the activity of postsynaptic receptor proteins
96
Define competitive agonist
Similarly to endogenous neurotransmitter, it activates the receptor by binding where the neurotransmitter usually binds
97
What are non-competitive agonists or antagonists?
Drugs that do not fight for the binding site of a neurotransmitter, but bind to a different site next to it instead
98
Define allosteric modulators
Non-competitive drugs that only influence receptor activity when neurotransmitter is also bound to the receptor
99
What's MRI used for?
Revealing density of lipid molecules, consequently giving an image of the brain
100
What's DTI useful for?
It reveals axon tract by checking the speed of the diffusion of water molecules
101
What are fMRI scans used for?
Detecting neural activity by tracking bloodflow in the brain
102
What are PET scans used for?
Also used for detecting neural activity, but by injecting radioactive glucose and tracking its movement
