Midterm 1 Flashcards
How does natural selection affect the evolution of nervous systems?
Something about need to sense environment so can avoid predators, find food, reproduce. Talk about progression from simple to complex NS.
What is evolution?
Change in pop. gene pool over time
What is adaptation?
A feature that gives .org. better chance of survival and reproduction than if it did not have
What is natural selection?
Environment favors certain characteristics more than others
What is a selective pressure?
Any phenomenon in an environment that alters reproductive success of a pop.
Example of evolution
Peppered moth
Example of adaptation
DDT killing mosquitos with certain Na+ channels by causing hyperexcitability
Also modern-day RoundUp resistant plants and antibiotic resistant bacteria have certain features
RoundUp, antibiotics = selective pressures
Example of natural selection
Peppered moth in urban location = directional
Robins brood number: too few eggs, easy to all be killed by predators; too many, likely to die of starvation = stabilizing
Peppered moth = disruptive
Types of evolution (5)
1) mutation
2) genetic drifts
3) migration between populations
4) nonrandom mating
5) natural selection
Requirements for natural selection (4)
1) reproduction
2) heredity
3) variation
4) variation in fitness
Define fitness
A relative measure of reproductive success of an .org. in passing on its genes to the next generation
Types of natural selection (3/4) and differences between them
1) directional
2) stabilizing
3) disruptive
4) none
Contributions of Cajal
Drew networks of neurons
Theorized about synaptic gap = neuron doctrine
Proposed functional polarity
Used Golgi’s stain
Golgi
Thought all neurons were connected in continuous reticulum, breaking mandate of cell theory (reticular theory)
Made a stain
Outline progression from simple to complex NS through 5 phyla and describe differences and developments within
nerve net for reflexive movement (cnidaria)—>
bilateral symm. , centralization, segmentation for faster and more eff. comm. (flatworms/platyhelminthes) —>
cephalization, bilat. symm. and centralization (mollusca) —>
cephalization, bilat. symm., centralization, and segmentation (arthropoda) —>
CNS and spinal cord protected by vertebrae (chordata)
What is CNS?
Brain and spinal cord
What is PNS?
Nerves and ganglia outside CNS
Connects CNS to limbs and organs
Includes sensory neurons that link CNS receptors to processing circuits
Parts of CNS?
BRAIN Frontal lobe Parietal lobe Occipital lobe Temporal lobe
SPINAL CORD
Parts of PNS?
AUTONOMIC NS
= automatic, involuntary
Cardiac muscles, glands
Sympathetic nervous system —> fight or flight
Parasympathetic nervous system —> rest and digest
SOMATIC NS
= voluntary
Sensory processing and motor control
What is autonomic nervous system?
AKA visceral nervous system
Automatic functions
Cardiac muscles, glands
Sympathetic nervous system —> fight or flight
Parasympathetic nervous system —> rest and digest
What is somatic nervous system?
Afferent nerves that carry info to CNS efferent fibers that carry neural impulses away
What components comprise the cytoskeleton? (3)
Microtubules
Neurofilaments
Microfilaments?
What is axoplasmic transport?
Movement of proteins from synapse to terminal and vv.
Types of axoplasmic transport (2)
1) fast (anterograde by kinesin, retrograde by dynein)
2) slow (either way by dynein)
Why are dendritic spines important?
Shape affects synapse strength, i.e. how good at making connections a neuron is
Have dynamic shape
Implicated in memory
Example of directional selection
Smaller salmon in PNW slip through fishers’ nets
Example of stabilizing selection
Robins’ nests eggs too few die by predation eggs too many die by starvation
Example of disruptive selection
Peppered moth melanin in urban areas, light in rural areas
What do microtubules do?
Transport tracks for organelles
MAPs normally form bridges
What is tau?
A microtubule-associated protein (MAP) whose malfunction in dissociating from MT’s is involved in Alzheimer’s
Review this!
What are neurofilaments for?
Support for atonal radial growth
What do microfilaments do?
Close association with membrane
What is the theory of functional polarity?
Dendrites and cell bodies of neurons receive info
Axons and collaterals transmit info to other cells
So we can predict direction of info flow through neuronal circuits
RECEIVE GENERATE TRANSMIT
Classifying neurons
NUMBER OF NEURITES
unipolar, bipolar, multipolar
DEBDRITES
stellate or pyramidal cells
spiny or aspinous
See also classification of glia
What do astrocytes do?
CNS
Regulate extracellular space and ion concentrations
Remove NT’s from synaptic cleft
Produce growth factors for survival
What do oligodendrocytes do?
CNS
Makes several sheaths (long sheets of glial membrane)
Usually can’t regenerate
What are nodes of Ranvier?
CNS and PNS
Breaks in between myelin sheaths
What are Schwann cells?
PNS
One cell makes one myelin sheath
If damaged, can regenerate
What is neurophysiology?
Physiology (study of normal function) of the nervous system
What is electrophysiology?
Study of electrical properties of cells and tissues
How does intracellular electrophysiological measurement work?
Electrode filled with conductive salt solution placed into soma
Amplifier measured voltage difference between electrode and ground
How does extracellular electrophysiological measurement work?
Electrode places just outside of cell close to neuronal membrane
Measures electrical activity without killing cell/org.