Nervous System Flashcards
the Nervous System mainly functions in THREE (3) WAYS
Sensory, Integrative, and Motor Function
What function allows you to perceive changes, inside and outside of the body, and feel sensations.
Sensory Function
refers to receiving information about the environment, either what is happening outside (ie: heat from the sun) or inside the body (ie: heat from muscle activity).
Sensation or stimuli
detect internal stimuli, such as an increase in blood pressure, or external stimuli.
Sensory receptors
This information is then carried into the brain and spinal cord through cranial and spinal
nerves, to be exact the AFFERENT branch of the PNS.
Sensory information
It integrates or processes sensory information by analyzing and storing some of it and by making decisions for appropriate responses to changes.
Integrative function or integration
What type of sensory information arises from sensory receptors in the skin, skeletal muscles or joints
Somatic sensory information
What type of sensory information arises from sensory receptors in the blood vessel or internal organs.
Visceral sensory information
It carries out the response/s, processed by the Central Nervous System, to effector organs via the MOTOR (efferent) branch of the Peripheral Nervous System.
Motor function
through the motor neurons, carry information from the brain toward the spinal cord and to the different parts of the body to carry out the command.
Motor function
a tissue structure that responds to an efferent impulse.
Effector
an impulse that travels away from the central
nervous system
Efferent impulse
What are the two main subdivisions of the Nervous System based on structural classification?
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) and PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYTEM (PNS
It includes mainly the brain (contains about 85 billion neurons) and spinal cord (contains about 100 million neurons
Central nervous system
It consists of all nervous tissue outside the CNS.
Peripheral nervous system
is composed of Cranial Nerves (the brain’s 12 pairs of nerves) & Spinal Nerves (31 pairs of nerves associated with the spinal cord) which serve as communication lines that carry impulses from the sensory receptors located on the different parts of the body to the CNS
Peripheral nervous system
The PNS is further subdivided into three (3)
Somatic Nervous System (SNS), Enteric Nervous System (ENS) and Autonomic Nervous System(ANS).
SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (SNS) (soma = body) consists of:
Sensory and motor neurons
Neurons that carry information from somatic receptors in the head, body wall and limbs and from receptors from the special senses of vision, hearing, taste and smell
Sensory neuron
Neurons that conduct impulses from the CNS to skeletal muscles
Motor neuron
is also called the “Brain of the GUT”. Its operation is Involuntary and consists of neurons (100 million) in Enteric Plexuses that spread over the entire span of the GIT.
Enteric nervous system
Examples of activities of the ENS:
Enteric sensory neuron and enteric motor neuron
monitor chemical changes within the GIT & the stretching of its walls
Enteric sensory neurons
govern contraction of the smooth muscles of the GIT, secretions of the GIT, such as acid from the stomach, and activities of GI tract endocrine cells, which secrete hormone
Enteric motor neurons
The motor part of the ANS has two (2) branches
SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYTEM AND PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM.
is sometimes called the “FIGHT or FLIGHT” system, primarily increases ALERTNESS and prepares the body for QUICK response to certain situatio
Sympathetic nervous system
the “REST AND REPOSE” system / “REST-AND-DIGEST”. It primarily ACTS to CONSERVE ENERGY
PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS
Nervous tissue comprises two types of cells
neurons and neuroglia
provide most of the unique functions of the nervous system, such as sensing, thinking, remembering, controlling muscle activity, and regulating glandular secretions.
Neurons
smaller cells but they greatly outnumber neurons, perhaps by as much as 25 times.
Neuroglia
make up about half the volume of the CNS.
Neuroglia
Brain tumours derived from glia, called _ , tend to be highly malignant and to grow rapidly.
Gliomas
Four types of neuroglia found only in the CNS
astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, and ependymal cells
remaining two types of neuroglia present in the PNS
Schwann cells and satellite cells—
Neuroglia of the CNS can be classified on the basis of:
size, cytoplasmic processes, intracellular organisation
These star-shaped cells have many processes and are the largest and most numerous of the neuroglia.
Astrocyte
two types of astrocytes
Protoplasmic astrocytes and Fibrous astrocytes
A type of astrocyte that have many short branching processes and are found in grey matter
Protoplasmic astrocyte
have many long unbranched processes and are located mainly in white matter
Fibrous astrocytes
contain microfilaments that give them considerable strength, which enables them to support neurons.
Astrocyte
restricts the movement of substances between the blood and interstitial fluid of the CNS.
Blood brain barrier
consists of cellular structure that selectively inhibit certain substances in the blood from entering the interstitial spaces of the brain or CSF, thus making the nervous system impermeable to large & potentially harmful molecules.
Blood brain barrier
resemble astrocytes but are smaller and contain fewer processes.
Oligodendrocytes
responsible for forming and maintaining the myelin sheath around CNS axons.
Process of oligocendrocyte
multilayered lipid and protein covering around some axons that insulates them and increases the speed of nerve impulse conduction.
myelin sheath