Nervous System Flashcards
What is the main function of the nervous system?
Maintain homeostasis
What is homeostasis?
Maintenance of the internal environment (pH, body temp, glucose levels, blood pressure, water levels, etc.)
What are the two main branches of the nervous system?
- Central Nervous System (CNS)
- Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
What are the two parts of the CNS?
- Brain
- Spinal Cord
What two type of nerves does the PNS branch into?
- Autonomic nerves (involuntary)
- Somatic nerves (voluntary)
What are the 3 kinds of neurons?
- Sensory neurons (afferent)
- Motor neurons (efferent)
- Interneurons
What do sensory neurons do?
Take impulses from the body receptors to the CNS
What do motor neurons do?
Take impulses away from the CNS and to the muscles and glands
What do interneurons do?
Are actually in the CNS (brain and spinal cord)
What are neuroglia (glial cells)?
Supportive cells that aid the interneurons of the brain (other types of support cells) (nourish neurons, remove waste, protect neurons)
What are the 3 basic parts of the neuron?
- Cell Body
- Dendrites
- Axon
What is the cell body?
Nucleus and cytoplasm
What are dendrites?
- Finger-like projections of cytoplasm of the cell body
- They receive information
What is the axon?
- Extension of cytoplasm
- Transmits impulse away
What is myelin sheath?
White fatty covering that insulates the axon (produced by Schwann cells)
What are Schwann cells?
- A special kind of glial cell that produces a myelin sheath that that wraps around the axons as insulation
- Also play a minor role in protection
On top of protection, what else does the myelin sheath provide?
Faster conduction of impulses and greater power of regeneration
What are the intermitted gaps between the myelin sheath called?
Nodes of Ranvier