Peripheral Nervous System Flashcards
what is the PNS?
nerves outside CNS consisting of an afferent sensory division and an efferent motor division.
Embryologically, what are sensory neurones derived from?
neural crest cells which develop from the ectoderm. They are tiny cells which ‘fall off’ the neural tube in early embryonic stage.
what else is derived from the neural crest?
schwann cells
describe the structure of a sensory neurone
from the receptor an impulse is sent via the peripheral process of the dendron towards the cell body. after the cell body, the impulse travels down the central process of the axon towards the CNS.
types of sensory neurone fibres
A- myelinated somatic
B- myelinated visceral/autonomic
C- unmyelinated somatic and visceral and pain afferents
where is a sensory neurone cell body usually located?
located in a sensory ganglion, very rarely is the cell body a receptor itself.
what types of sensory receptors are there?
free ending nerve fibres are for pain and temperature
corpuscles are for touch and pressure
what is the motor efferent division divided into?
Somatic and Autonomic
what is the somatic nervous division?
contain efferent motor neurones which give rise to muscle contractions (skeletal). this could be voluntary OR reflexive/automatic.
describe the route an impulse takes from the primary motor cortex to the muscle effector in the SNS
an upper motor neurone sends information down spinal cord from primary motor cortex to correct vertebral/spinal cord level. Here, it synapses with a lower motor neurone which is exclusively peripheral leading to an NMJ.
where do lower motor neurones come from embryologically?
they are derived from the basal plate of the spinal cord itself.
what exits the intervertebral foramen
mixed spinal nerve, containing both motor and sensory neurones.
what types of nerves are part of the PNS?
Cranial (12) and Spinal (31)
what is the autonomic nervous system?
involuntary NS, sympathetic and parasympathetic
describe the rude an impulse takes from the hypothalamic nuclei to the visceral effector.
one motor neurone from hypothalamic nuclei to brain stem or spinal cord (within CNS), presympathetic
one preganglionic neurone from the autonomic ganglia (sympathetic trunk/parasympathetic ganglia).
one postganglionic neurone from ganglia to the target visceral effector
what is different about the vagus and sacral parasympathetic nerves and the sympathetic adrenal innervation?
they only have 2 neurones. no ganglia associated with them hence referred to as pre and post synaptic neurones.
describe the myelination of the pre and post ganglionic neurones
preganglionic neurone is myelinated (B fibres)
postganglionic neurone is unmyelinated (C fibres)
describe the anatomy of the sympathetic nervous system
innervation from T1-L2, some pass into paravertebral sympathetic chain ganglion, some pass into collateral ganglia.
describe the anatomy of the parasympathetic nervous system
innervation from cranial nerves from brain stem and S2-4.
cranial nerves apart from vagus have parasympathetic ganglia.
embryologically where are the preganglionic/presynaptic neurones derived from?
basal plate
embryologically where are the postganglionic/postsynaptic neurones derived from?
neural crest cells
difference between A fibre and C fibre structure
A fibre neurones have up to 100 layers of myelin from schwann cells wrapped around a singleton’s axon
C fibres, one layer schwan cell neurilemma and cytoplasm surround an axon, a bundle of these are found in one c fibre.