Response to the environment Flashcards
What is a bundle of neurones known as?
A nerve
What 3 main structures make up a neurone?
- A cell body that contains the nucleus
- Axon
- Myelin sheath
What are the nodes of Ranvier?
Uninsulated gaps between Schwann cells
What is the myelin sheath made up from?
Made up of specialised cells called Schwann cells
What is the structure of relay neurones?
- Short neurone with axons and highly branched dendrites (no myelin)
What is the structure of motor neurones?
- A large cell body that lies in the CNS
- Highly branched dendrites
- Myelinated
What is the structure of sensory neurones?
- A cell body that branches off in the middle
- No dendrites
What is the role of receptor cells?
To detect changes in the environment/stimuli
What is the pathway of an impulse through the nervous system?
- Stimulus
- Receptor
- Sensory neurone
- Relay neurone (CNS)
- Motor neurone
- Effector
To dilate the pupil what muscles contract and relax?
- Radial muscles contract and the circular muscles relax
To constrict the pupil what muscles contract and relax?
Circular muscles contract and radial muscles relax
What is the resting potential in mV?
-70 mV
How is resting potential established?
- The sodium-potassium pump actively transport 3Na+ out of the cell and 2K+ into the cell
- This establishes an electrochemical gradient making the cell negative
Name the stages in generating an action potential
- Depolarisation
- Repolarisation
- Hyperpolarisation
- Returns to resting potential
What happens during depolarisation?
- Energy from a stimulus causes some Na+ v.g channels to open allowing some Na+ to get in
- If the threshold value is reached more Na+ channels open and an influx of sodium ions enter making the cell +30mV
What happens during repolarisation?
- Once the action potential has been reached the Na+ v.g channels close and the K+ v.g channels open
- K+ start to leave the cell until an influx of K+ ions leave the cell
What happens during hyperpolarisation?
- K+ keeps leaving the cell until the cell is more negative than the resting potential
- v.g K+ channels close allowing an electrochemical gradient to be re established
What is the refractory period?
When no stimulus is large enough to raise membrane potential to threshold value