Reflex Vocabulary

Question 1

The outermost of the three meninges (coverings) of the brain and spinal cord.

Answer 1

Dura Mater

Question 2

The middle of the three meninges (coverings) of the brain and spinal cord.

Answer 2

Arachnoid mater

Question 3

The innermost of the three meninges (coverings) of the brain and spinal cord.

Answer 3

Pia mater

Question 4

A microscopic tube running the length of the spinal cord in the gray commissure. A circular channel running longitudinally in the center of an osteon (haversian system) of mature compact bone, containing blood and lymphatic vessels and nerves.

Answer 4

Central canal

Question 5

The cutaneous area developed from one embryonic spinal cord segment and receiving most of its sensory innervation from one spinal nerve. An instrument for incising the skin or cutting thin transplants of skin

Answer 5

Dermatome

Question 6

The structure composed of axons of motor (efferent) neurons that emerges from the anterior aspect of the spinal cord and extends laterally to join a posterior root, forming a spinal nerve.

Answer 6

Anterior root

Question 7

An organ of the body, either a muscle or a gland, that is innervated by somatic or autonomic motor neurons.

Answer 7

Effector

Question 8

Three membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, called the dura mater, arachnoid mater, and pia mater.

Answer 8

Meninges

Question 9

Fast response to a change (stimulus) in the internal or external environment that attempts to restore homeostasis.

Answer 9

Reflex

Question 10

Neurons that carry sensory information from cranial and spinal nerves into the brain and spinal cord or from a lower to a higher level in the spinal cord and brain.

Answer 10

Sensory neurons

Question 11

One of the 31 pairs of nerves that originate on the spinal cord from posterior and anterior roots.

Answer 11

Spinal nerve

Question 12

Any stress that changes a controlled condition; any change in the internal or external environment that excites a sensory receptor, a neuron, or a muscle fiber.

Answer 12

Stimulus

Question 13

A bundle of nerve axons in the central nervous system.

Answer 13

Tract

Question 14

A cluster of cell bodies of sympathetic or parasympathetic neurons located outside the central nervous system.

Answer 14

Autonomic ganglion

Question 15

Visceral sensory (afferent) and visceral motor (efferent) neurons. Autonomic motor neurons, both sympathetic and parasympathetic, conduct nerve impulses from the central nervous system to smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands. So named because this part of the nervous system was thought to be self-governing or spontaneous

Answer 15

Autonomic nervous system

Question 16

A neuron that liberates acetylcholine as its neurotransmitter.

Answer 16

Cholinergic neuron

Question 17

Sensory receptor located in blood vessels and viscera that provides information about the body’s internal environment.

Answer 17

Interoceptor

Question 18

Neurons that conduct impulses from the brain toward the spinal cord or out of the brain and spinal cord into cranial or spinal nerves to effectors that may be either muscles or glands. Also called efferent neurons.

Answer 18

Motor neurons

Question 19

Receptor for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine found on all effectors innervated by parasympathetic postganglionic axons and on sweat glands innervated by cholinergic sympathetic postganglionic axons; so named because muscarine activates these receptors but does not activate nicotinic receptors for acetylcholine.

Answer 19

Muscarinic receptor

Question 20

Receptor for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine found on both sympathetic and parasympathetic postganglionic neurons and on skeletal muscle in the motor end plate.

Answer 20

Nicotinic receptor

Question 21

One of the two subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system, having cell bodies of preganglionic neurons in the lateral gray columns of the thoracic segment and the first two or three lumbar segments of the spinal cord; primarily concerned with processes involving the expenditure of energy.

Answer 21

Sympathetic division

Question 22

One of the two subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system, having cell bodies of preganglionic neurons in nuclei in the brain stem and in the lateral gray horn of the sacral portion of the spinal cord; primarily concerned with activities that conserve and restore body energy.

Answer 22

Parasympathetic division

Question 23

The first autonomic motor neuron in an autonomic pathway, with its cell body and dendrites in the brain or spinal cord and its myelinated axon ending at an autonomic ganglion, where it synapses with a postganglionic neuron.

Answer 23

Preganglionic neuron

Question 24

The second autonomic motor neuron in an autonomic pathway, having its cell body and dendrites located in an autonomic ganglion and its unmyelinated axon ending at cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, or a gland.

Answer 24

Postganglionic neuron

Question 25

A neuron that releases epinephrine (adrenaline) or norepinephrine (noradrenaline) as its neurotransmitter.

Answer 25

Adrenergic neuron