The nervous and endocrine system Flashcards
What is the nervous system
- a specialised network of cells in the human body, it is also our primary internal communication system
What are the two main function of the nervous system
- to collect, process and respond to information in the environment
- to co-ordinate the working of different organs and cells in the body
What are the two sub-systems it is divided into
- CNS
- PNS
What is the CNS made up of
- the brain and spinal cord
What does the PNS do
- transmit messages, via millions of neurons to and from the CNS
What is the PNS further sub-divided into
- autonomic nervous system
- somatic nervous system
What does the ANS do
- governs vital functions in the body such as breathing, heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal etc
What does the SNS do
- controls muscle movement and receives information from sensory receptors
What does the endocrine system do and how fast does it function
- works alongside the nervous system to control vital functions in the body
- works slower than the nervous system but has widespread and powerful effects
What do glands such as the thyroid gland produce
- hormones
Where are hormones secreted
- into the bloodstream and effect any cell with a receptor for that particular hormone
What hormone does the thyroid gland produce
- thyroxine
What does the hormone thyroxine effect
- cells in the heart, as well as affecting cells throughout the body increasing metabolic rates, this in turn effects growth rates
1-What is the major endocrine gland
2-Where is it located
3-What does it do
- pituitary gland or ‘master gland’
- in the brain
- it controls the release of hormones from all the other endocrine glands in the body
Outline how the endocrine and nervous system work together
- work in parallel with one another
Give an example (in relation to the fight or flight response) as to how they may work together
- when a stressor is perceived the hypothalamus triggers activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, the ANS changes from it’s normal resting state (parasympathetic state) to the sympathetic state, adrenaline is then released and once the threat is gone the body, or parasympathetic nervous system returns the body to its normal resting state
From where is the stress hormone adrenaline released from
- adrenal medulla, a part of the adrenal gland
