Nervous System: Brain and Spinal Cord Flashcards
Where is the ‘Cerebral Cortex’ and what is it made from?
The outer rim of the cerebrum.
Contains billions of layers of neurons
Grey matter
Cerebral cortex during embryonic development
Grows faster than white matter.
Results in folding in the cortical region
What are the left and right hemisphere split by?
Longitudle fissure
What is cerebral white matter made from?
Primarily myelinated axons
Name the three types of tracts of cerebral white matter:
Association: Nerve impulses through axons to and from gyri in the same hemisphere
Commiseral: Conduct between gyri in different hemispheres
projection: Cerebrum to CNS or low parts of CNS to the cerebrum
Where is the primary visual cortex located?
The back end of the occipital lobe
Where is the primary somatosensory cortex located?
The parietal area
The lateral fissure primarily separates the:
Frontal from temporal lobe
The key function of the temporal association cortex:
- Memory
- Aggression
- Mood
The key function of the frontal association cortex:
- Intelligence
- Personality
- Behaviour
The key function of the parietal association cortex:
- Spacial skills
- 3D recognition
The function of arcuate fasciculus
- To align speech recognition/comprehension with speech production
- Goes from Wernicke’s area to Broca’s area
- Lesion causes connectional aphasia
Major symptoms of a person with non-fluent aphasia
- Inability to coordinate muscular movements for generating speech
- Can understand but can’t speak
- Lesion in Broca’s area
Fluent aphasia
- Caused by a lesion in Wernicke’s area
- Person can speak but not coherently
Connectional aphasia
- Legion in arcuate fascicula
- Makes people say stuff that isn’t relevant to the conversation
Broca’s speech area
- Speaking and understanding language
- From this area, nerve impulses pass through premotor regions which control muscles of the larynx, pharynx, and mouth
- Legion = can’t speak thoughts (non-fluent aphasia)
Cerebellum function
- Smooths and coordinates skeletal muscle contractions
- Regulates posture and balance
Parts of diencephalon
- Thalamus
- Hypotherlumus
- Epithalamus
Thalamus function
- Relays almost all sensory information to the cerebral cortex
- Maintenance of consciousness
- Contributes to motor function
Hypothalamus
- Autonomic nervous system
- Produces, releases, and inhibits hormones like oxytocin and ADH
- Emotional and behavioral patterns
- Regulates satiety, thirst, and temperature
Epithalamus
- Consists of the pineal gland
- Secretes melatonin
- Habenular nuclei (involved in olfaction)
Basal nuclei: primary function
1) Receives information from the cerebral cortex
2) Provides output to motor parts of cortex via the medial and ventral group nuclei of the thalamus
Basal nuclei: other functions
- Initiation and termination of movement
- Control subconscious contraction of skeletal muscles
- Made of grey matter
- Lesions can cause Parkinson’s, OCD, schizophrenia, Huntington’s, turrets, etc.
The three parts of the brainstem, top to bottom:
Midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata
Midbrain
- Contains sensory (ascending) and motor (descending) tracts
- Superior colliculi coordinate movements of the head, eyes, and trunk in response to visual stimuli
- Inferior colliculi do the same but in response to auditory stimulu
Superior colliculi
Visual
Inferior colliculi
Auditory
Pons
- Contains sensory (ascending) and motor (descending) tracts
- Pontine nuclei relay nerve impulses from motor areas of the cerebral cortex to the cerebellum
- Along with medulla, contains vesicular nuclei that are part of equilibrium pathway to the brain
Medulla Oblongata
- Contains sensory (ascending) and motor (descending) tracts
Cerebrum
- Involved in the perception of information
- Basal nuclei: initiate and terminate movement, regulate muscle tone
- Limbic system: promotes a range of emotions, including pleasure, pain, docility, affection, anger, etc.
Anatomy of spinal cord
- 31 pairs of spinal nerves
- Dorsal (sensory) and ventral motor roots
- Grey and white matter
Meninges
- The protective connective tissue coverings encircle the spinal cord
- From inside out, pia mater, arachnoid mater, dura mater
Spinal cord: motor output
- Ventral root fibers
- Lower motor neurons
peripheral nerve - motor endplate/muscles
Spinal cord: sensory input
- Peripheral receptors/dermatomes
- Discriminative touch and pressure
- Non-discriminative pain and temperature
- Dorsal root fibers/ganglia/central connections
Non-discriminative pathways
- Pain and temperature
- Free nerve ending
- Not fired as often
- Slow, about 1m/s
- Unmyelinated
Discriminative pathway
- Tough and pressure
- Encapsulated receptor
- Pressure = Pacinian corpsule
- Touch = meisners corpuscle
- Myelinated
Discriminative: Neuron 1
Start: Primary root afferent
Middle: Dorsal column of the spinal cord
End: Gracile or cuneate nucleus
Discriminative: Neuron 2
Start: Gracile or cuneate nucleus
Middle: Internal arcuate fibers/medial lemniscus
End: ventro-posterior thalamus
Discriminative: Neuron 3
Start: Ventro-posterior thalamus
Middle: Internal capsule
End: Primary somatosensory cortex
Non-Discriminative: Neuron 1
Start: Primary root afferents
Middle: Dorsal root ganglion
End: Dorsal horn of the spinal cord
Non-Discriminative: Neuron 2
Start: Dorsal horn of the spinal cord
Middle: lateral spinothalamic tract
End: Ventro-posterior thalamus
Non-Discriminative: Neuron 3
Start: Ventro-posterior thalamus
Middle: Internal capsule
End: Primary somatosensory cortex
The pathway to the brainstem which conveys discriminative touch and pressure sensation is the:
Medial lemniscus