Midterm 2 Flashcards
Nervous system
define
general functions (3)
- A communication and control network that allows an organism to interact with its environment
- Sensory detection
- info processing
- expression of behaviour
Central nervous system made up of
brain and spinal cord
divisions of peripheral ns?
Afferent/sensory division
Afferent/motor division
What makes up the nervous system? (4)
- Neurons - functional unit
- Neuroglial cells - microglial, astrocytes, dendrocytes
- Blood vessels - provide nutrients and energy
- Connective tissue - provide support
Where does inhibitory and excitatory input go on neuron?
Inhibitory onto cell body and excitatory onto dendrites
Features of:
cell body
soma
dendrites
axons
axon hillock
neural network
- contain organelles
- factory of cell - makes proteins + membrane structures
- input transmission - carry info to neuron
- output transmission
- Important for AP generation - contains all necesary ion channels
- APs fire along neural network to ensure that NS functions properly
unpolar neurons dominant in
invertebrates
Bipolar neurons extend to?
One end to CNS and one to PNS
Carry info from PNS to CNS
pseudounipolar neurons
- develop from bipolar neurons
- One extension from cell body that divides
- One end to PNS and one to CNS
- Sensory neurons
Multipolar neurons
- Dominant in vertebrates
- One axon that carries info to muscle cells
Distribution of neurons in body
- 90% interneurons - multipolar, make connections
- 9% Motor neurons - mostly multipolar
- 1% sensory neurons - mostly bipolar and pseudounipolar. Carry info from receptor cells in sensory organ to upper level neurons
Axonal tranport
Fast:
Slow:
Anterograde:
Retrograde:
Importance:
- Dast transport for membrane bound organelles and mitochondria
- Slow transport for proteins
- Anterograde - from soma toward terminals. Uses kinesin
- Retrograde - from terminals toward soma. Uses dynien
- Important for neurotransmission bc many structure in cell body need to get to nerve terminal that can’t do it through diffusion
Why can Shingles affect the skn after many years latency?
- Caused by chicken pox firus
- Stays dormant in cells for many years after infection
- Virus can reactivate and will be transported from cell, down axon - affecting skin
Supportive matrix of CNS
provides local environment for nearons to function (neuroglia)
Neuroglia in CNS (list)
- Astrocytes
- Oligodendrocytes
- Microglia
- Ependyomal cells
Astrocytes
Neuroglia in CNS
structural support, metabolic support, encourage NT uptake/release, nervous system repair, ion homeostasis, synaptic plasticity
Oligodendroglia
Neuroglia in CNS
myelination of CNS axons
Microglia
Neuroglia of CNS
- Immune defense => phagocytes
- Activated when CNS is injured, release factors to help with repair
Ependymal Cells
Neuroglia of CNS
produce cerebrospinal fluid
Neuroglia in PNS
- Satellite cells - function similarly to astrocytes (around the cell body)
- Schwaan cells - 1 group does myelin, other do debris clearance and nerve regeneration
Myelination in CNS vs PNS
- CNS - oligodendroglia. Single oligodendrocyte myelinates many axons
- PNS - Schwann Cells - Each cell myelinates only one axon
neurons vs neuroglia
Neurons
- Lots of brances, one long axon
- Can generate APs
- Cab regulate functions
- Can’t divide
Neuroglia
- Don’t branch extensively
- Not excitable
- Supporting unit of nerve cell
- Can divide - replication afected by tumors
What cells can give rise to brain tumors in the adult brain?
In infants?
Atrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, ependyoma
In infants: neuroblastoma
Grey matter
vs
white matter
soma and dendrites (axons, glial cells, capillaries)
acons (glial cells, capillaries). White bc of myelination
Why does grey matter have a higher metabolic rate?
Cell body located in grey matter. Factory for all proteins and cell components for neuron, therefore has higher metabolic rate.
Brainstem made up of
(not hypothalmus though it sits on top)
Midbrain
Pons
Medulla
Functions of the brainstem and its components
- Brainstem - autonomic centres and relay nuclei
- Midbrain: micturition, eye movement, auditory and visual systems
- Pons: balance, maintenance of posture, breathing
- Medulla: breathing, blood pressure, swallowing, coughing, vomiting reflexes
Cerebellum
location
functions
- Between cerebral cortex and spinal cord. Attached to brainstem and lies dorsal to pons and medulla
- Coordination of movement, maintenance of posture and balance
- Receives important info from spinal cord
Thalamus and hypothalamus
- Between cerebral hemispheres and brainstem - in diencephalon (meaning bt brain)
- Thalamus processes sensory information going to cerebral cortex and motor info coming from cerebral cortex to brainstem+spinal cord
- Hypothalamus regulates body temp, food intake, water balance, hormone secretions or pituitary
Cerebrum
location
structure
consists of
functions
- Located in anterior (front) portion of brain
- Divided into left and right hemispheres that are connected by corpus callosum (axon bundle)
- Cerebral himispheres consist of cerebral cortex (grey matter) and underlying what matter and 3 deep nuclei (basal ganglia, hippocampus, amygdala)
- Functions: perception, higher motor functions, cognition, memory and emotion
3 deep nuclei in cerebrum
basal ganglia, hippocampus and amygdala
- Basal ganglia - base of forebrain, movement, parkinson’s disease, huntington’s disease
- Hippocampus - located in temporal lobe, memory
- Amygdala - In temporal lobe, emotion
Cerebral Cortex
gyrus
sulcus
lobe divisions
areas
functions
- gyrus = ridges on cortex
- sulcus = grooves on cortex
- Divides into frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal lobes
- Sylvian/lateral fissure divides frontal/temporal and parietal/temporal
- Longitudinal fissure divides the two hemispheres
- Areas: motor, sensory, association areas
- Functions: recieves and processes sensory information and integrates motor functions
Most of the brain is made up of associations areas (Eg the somatomotor cortex has the motor cortex and the association area of that cortex that is much larger)
why is this?
Higher brain function = perception
The ventricular system
- The system that the cerebrospinal fluid runs through
- 4 ventricles in brain
- Connected by foramina:
- Interventricular foramina connects ventricles 1 + 2
- cerebral aqueduct connects 3 + 4
*
cerebrospinal fluid
what is it?
produced by
can be sampled by
function
Liquid that fills and circulates within the ventricular system of brain
- Produced by choroid plexus
- Can be sampled by a lumbar puncture (lumbar cistern)
- Distributes nutritive materials to and removes waste from nervous tissue; protection of the brain
hydrocephalus
- Abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in ventricles
- Increased pressure that causes disease
Nervous system reaction to injury
-
Degeneration
- Effector denervated
- Wallerian degeneration - axon pulls up toward the cell body
- Chromatolysis = dissolution of nissl bodies in cell body
-
Regeneration - in PNS but not in CNS
- Severed axon begins to srpout and can allow regeneration
- Axon growth = trophic factors (NGF, neurotrophin, CNF)
Nissl Body
large granular body founf in neurons. Rough ER with free ribosomes and parts of golgi. Seen in soma and dendrites. Not axon.
Non-traditional senses
- Nocicpetion - pain, helps you avoid damage
- Equilibrioception - body balance when walking/standing
- Proprioception - Sense of relative body parts
- Thermoception - sense of temperature around skin
Sensory receptors are
3 types
specialized structure activated by stimuli, that convert a stimulus into neuronal activity (electrical activity)
they are one of:
- Endings - most simple. Nerve terminal of afferent neurons (somatosensory and olfactory systems)
- Specialized epithelial cells adjacent to an afferent neuron (visual, taste and auditory systems)
- Specialized structure associated with nerve terminals (Pacinian corpuscule)
Mechanoreceptors
modality
receptor
location
- Touch (pressure), audition, vestibular
- Pacinian corpuscule, hair cell
- Skin, organ of Corti, semicircular canal
Photoreceptors
modality
receptor
location
- Vision
- Rods + cones
- Retina
Chemoreceptors
Modality
Receptor
Location
- Olfaction, arterial oxygen levels, oH of cerebrospinal fluid
- Olfactory receptor
- Olfactory mucosa, carotid and aortic bodies, ventrolateral medulla
Thermoreceptors
Modality
Receptor
Location
- Temperature
- Cold receptor, warn receptor
- Skin
Nociceptors
modality
receptor
location
- Stimuli causing tissue damage
- Thermal nociceptor, mechanical nociceptor, polymodal nociceptor
- Skin
A stimulus is converted to electrical energy by opening and closing of ion channels in sensory receptors, which results in receptor potentials
receptor potential
- graded change in membrane potential of the sensory receptor.
- Can be depolarizing or hyperpolarizing
-
Depolarizing receptor potential spreads within afferent neuron until it reaches a region with high density VGSCs
- If receptor potential threshold is reached, AP generated
Receptor potential vs action potential
Receptor potential is a graded potential. The amplitude is graded with stimulus intensity. These potentials cannot propogate, only spread along the membrane.
Receptor potential can be hyperpolarizing or depolarizing
AP can only be triggered by a depolarizing current
Sensory Unit
- Primary sensory neuron and all sensory receptors (endings or associated sensory receptor cells)
- The smallest unit of sensory response
- If the sensory receptor is a neuron terminal, then the sensory neuron is a sensory unit. If there is some associated epithelial cell + sensory neuron, then that is the sensory unit
Receptive Field
- An area of the body surface that when stiumlated results in a change in firing of a sensory neuron.
- vary in size
- Smaller receptive field = more precise sensation
- Higher order of CNS neuron, more complex receptive field
- Receptive field can be excitatory or inhibitory depending on the change in firing rate
Sensory systems mainly code which 4 aspects of a stimulus?
- Stimulus Modality - type of stimulus
- Stimulus Intensity
- Stimulus location
- Stimulus duration: adaption
Adequate stimulus
Each sensory receptor is particularly sensitive to one stimulus type
Labeled line
- The distinct anotomical pathways from sensory receptors to a specific region of the CNS associated with a particular stimulus modality
- The attachment from the sensory receptor + higher level neurons + eventually to a specific region of the cerebral cortex = labeled line
Stimulus intensity encoded by
- Number of receptors that are activated
- Differences in firing rates of sensory neurons in a pathway. Increased Stim = increased AP frequency
- Activating different types of receptors (eg nociceptors as well)
Acuity
- precision of stimulus location
- Dense arrangement of sensory units => better acuity
- Large receptive field => bad acuity
- Lips and hands have good acuity
Lateral inhibition
- The capacity of an excited neuron to reduce the activity of its neighbors
- Further enhance sensory acuity
In image - firing frequency is decreased in all 3 secondary neurons, but the middle is suppressed less.
Adaption
Sensory receptors decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus of constant strength (AP frequency decreases)
- Phasic = rapidly adapting sensory receptor. Generates RP and AP on onset, but quickly stops responding. Detects CHANGES in stimulus
- Tonic = slowly adapting sensory receptor. Encodes DURANTION AND INTENSITY of a stimulus
Microneurography
Invasive method for visualizing normal traffic of nerve impulses
- Can map receptove field of a neuron
- Whenever a stimulus brings about a neuronal response, the response can be trecorded by an amplifyer
General features of sensory system (4)
- Synaptic relays
- Topographic organization
- Decussation
- Different types of nerve fibres
General feature of the Sensory System:
Synaptic relays
- Relay nuclei in the thalamus integrate converging info from neurons in CNS. One neuron tends to get info from many lower neurons
- Relay nuclei contain interneurons and projection neurons
- Interneurons have important role in analyzing converging info/perception => association neurons
- Projection neurons: sit along axon + send to higher order CNS. Carry info from relay nuclei to other parts of the brain
General Features of the Sensory System:
Topographic Organization
- Neural maps
- Somatotopic Map in somotosensory system (Sensory Homunculous)
- Retinotopic map in visual system
- Tonotopic map in the auditory system
General Features of the Sensory System
Decussation
- Crossing of sensory (and motor) pathways in the spinal cord
- Comissure - contains only axons (eg corpus callosum)
- Optic Chiasma
- Most sensory info will be conveyed to contralateral side of the brain
Convergence and divergence of ascending pathways
- Divergence = one primary neuron synapses onto many higher order neurons
- Convergence = A higher order sensroy neurons recieves input from more than 1 primary sensory neuron
Sensory processing in the Cortex (General)
- Ascending pathways terminate in specific sensory areas (eg innervation at eyes ==> visual cortex)
- Further processing occurs in associational areas where complete integration occurs
- Perception- understanding of sensations
4.
Inhibition of ascending pathways by descending pathways
- Directly or indirectly
- Form of controlling ascending pathways
- Not all sensory information reaches consciousness
Subdivisions of the Somatosensory System
- Proprioceptive division
- Enteroceptive division
- Exteroceptive division - responsible for providing information about contact of skin with objects in external world
3 major receptors of exteroceptive division of somatosensory system
- Mechanoreceptor
- Thermoreceptor
- Nociceptors
Somatosensory modalities
Information about touch, position, pain and temperature
Meissner’s corpunscule
location
adaption
sensation encoded
- Mechanoreceptor
- Only located in non-hairy skin
- rapid adaption
- Point discrimination, tapping, flutter
Pacinian Corpunscule
location
adaption
sensation encoded
- Hairy and non hairy skin, intramuscular
- very rapidly adapting
- vibration, tapping
Hair follicles (mechanoreceptors)
location
adaption
sensation encoded
- Hair skin
- rapid adaption
- Velocity, direction of movement
Ruffin’s corpunscule
- hairy and non hairy skin
- Slow adaption
- stretch, joint rotation
Merkel’s receptors
location
adaption
sensation encoded
- Nonhairy skin
- slowly adapting
- verticle identification of skin, light touch
Tactile disks (mechanoreceptors)
location
adaption
sensation encoded
- Hairy skin
- slow
- verticle identation of skin
Operation of thermoreceptors
- Respond to temperature change
- Slowly adapting
- Cold and warm receptors
- Nociceptors activated by extreme heat
- At body temp, both acting equally
TRP Channels
what are they
how many
structure
what ions
- Associated with thermosensation. Responsible for some nociception
- 27 types, 6 groups - respond to diff temps and chemicals
- 6 TM domains and 1 imbedded domain between 5 and 6
- Permeable to Na and Ca
Why does spicy food make you feel hot? Why does mint make you feel cool?
TRPV1 can be activated by spicy things and it’s also a heat receptor. TRPM8 activated by menthal and also a cold receptor.
TRP channels activated by high body temp and high external temp
TRP V1 and TRPV2
Thermal or mechanical nociceptors
- Fast conducting
- Adelta nerve fibres
- Respond to mechanical or thermal stimuli such as sharp pricking pain
- Fast first pain
polymodal nociceptor
- Slow-conducting C fibres
- Respond to high intensity mechanical, chemical and thermal stimuli
- Slow second pain