The Nervous System Flashcards
Includes the brain and spinal cord occupying the dorsal body cavity
Central Nervous System
Consists mainly of the nerves which extend from the brain and spinal cord, the cranial and spinal nerves (everything BUT the brain and spinal cord)
Peripheral Nervous System
Three basic function of nervous system:
- Sensory
- Integrative
- Motor
Detect internal and external stimuli, carried to the brain and spinal cord through cranial and spinal nerves
Sensory Receptors
Initiated by activating effector organs (muscles and glands) through cranial and spinal nerves
Motor Response
The brain and spinal cord process, integrate and coordinate this incoming sensory information to formulate an appropriate response
Integration
CNS protective structures:
- Bony outer covering (the skull and vertebral column)
- Three layers of meninges
- Cerebrospinal fluid
Immovable joints
Sutures
All the bones of the adult skull, except the mandible (lower jaw) are joined by immovable joints called _____
Sutures
The external surface of the cerebrum is divided up into various regions or ____
Lobes
These lobes are named after the skull which overlie the ____
Brain
Frontal bone is paired with _____ lobe
Frontal
Small holes in skull, through which many of the cranial nerves exit the outer surface of the head and body
Foramina
The skull has one large hole at its base, the _____ _____, through which the spinal cord passes as it enters the vertebral column
Foramen magnum
Each vertebra has a large hole, the ____ ____, through which the spinal cord passes
Vertebral foramen
The surface of the brain and the entire surface of the spinal cord are covered by three layers of connective tissues called:
Meninges (singular: Meninx)
The outermost meninx, strong membrane composed of fibrous connective tissue
Dura mater
Dura mater surrounding the brain is actually composed of _ layers
2
The outermost layer of dura mater, closely attached to the inner surface of the bones of the skull, called:
Periosteal dura mater
The innermost layer of dura mater, forms the actual external covering over the brain, called:
Meningeal dura mater
Space between the wall of the bony vertebral foramen and the spinal dura mater, filed with fatty tissue cushioning
Epidural space
The middle layer of the meninges. Separated from the dura mater by a narrow subdural space which contains a film of serous fluid.
Filmy, cobweb like material with spider-like extensions
Arachnoid mater
Beneath the arachnoid mater is a wide separation called ________ _____. This space contains cerebrospinal fluid and also the largest blood vessels serving the brain.
Subarachnoid space
The innermost meninx is very delicate, highly vascularized membrane composed of areolar connective tissue.
Adheres closely to the surface contours of the brain and spinal cord and dips deeply into the grooves.
Not able to separate this meninx from the brain and spinal cord.
Pia mater
Cerebrospinal fluid is continually produced by capillaries in the ____ ____ found in the roof of each ventricle
Choroid plexuses
CSF is absorbed by the ________ _____ which are knobby projections of the arachnoid mater, to enter the venous blood in the dural sinuses
Arachnoid villi
The _____ _____ forms an arch above the lateral ventricles
Corpus callosum
Two large cavities filled with cerebrospinal fluid
Lateral ventricles
Each hemisphere contains a lateral ventricle and they are numbered _ and _
1; 2
Can be seen as a shallow depression surround the thalamus
Third ventricle
An oval mass beneath the lateral ventricle
Thalamus
The cerebral ______ travels through the midbrain region
The structure within the brainstem that connects the third ventricle to the fourth
Aqueduct
A triangular space between the pons and the cerebellum, is continuous with the central canal
Fourth ventricle
The cerebrospinal fluid-filled space that runs through the spinal cord
Central canal
The largest portion of the brain and its surface is highly convoluted
Cerebrum (seh-REE-brum)
Elevated fold or ridges of cerebrum
Gyri (singular Gyrus)
Depressed regions or grooves
Sucli (singular sulcus)
Deeper grooves
Fissures