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SK299 > Topic 4 - The Nervous System > Flashcards

Topic 4 - The Nervous System Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two main branches which the nervous system is divided into?

A
  • Central nervous system

* Peripheral nervous system

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2
Q

What are the components of the CNS (central nervous system)?

A
  • Brain

* Spinal cord

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3
Q

What are the components of the PNS (peripheral nervous system)?

A

Everything which lies outside of the brain and spinal cord

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4
Q

What are afferent pathways?

A

Nerve pathways which carry sensory information towards the brain from the periphery

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5
Q

What are efferent pathways?

A

Nerve fibres which carry motor information from the brain to the periphery

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6
Q

How many planes of the body are there?

A

3

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7
Q

What are the names of the planes of the body?

A
  • Saggital
  • Coronal
  • Transverse
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8
Q

What is the saggital plane (of the body)?

A

A vertical line which divides the body into a left and right section

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9
Q

What is the transverse plane (of the body)?

A

A horizontal line which divides the body into upper and lower sections

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10
Q

What is the coronal plane (of the body)?

A

A vertical line which divides the body into anterior (front) and posterier (back) sections

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11
Q

What are the upper and lower sections of the body called?

A
  • Superior

* Inferior

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12
Q

What are the terms for the front and back sections of the body?

A
  • Anterior

* Posterior

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13
Q

What are the three sections the brain is broadly divided in to?

A
  • Cerebrum
  • Cerebellum
  • Brainstem
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14
Q

What is the cerebrum?

A

The largest part of the brain

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15
Q

What are some of the particularly important subregions of the cerebrum?

A
  • Basal ganglia
  • Amygdala
  • Thalamus
  • Hippocampus
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16
Q

Where is the cerebellum?

A

Located at the back of, and below, the cerebral hemispheres

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17
Q

What is the cerebellum concerned with?

A
  • Organisation of balance
  • Posture/locomotion
  • Fine motor control
  • Attention
  • Time perception
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18
Q

Where is the brainstem located?

A

Anteriorly to the cerebellum

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19
Q

What does the brainstem contain?

A
  • The midbrain
  • The pons
  • The medulla oblongata
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20
Q

What does the brainstem do?

A

It communicates with the peripheral nervous system to control involuntary processes such as breathing and heart rate

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21
Q

What are the deep ridges of the brain called?

A

Gyri (singular, gyrus)

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22
Q

What are the grooves of the brain called?

A

Sulci (singular, sulcus)

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23
Q

What are deep sulci (grooves of the brain) known as?

A

Fissures

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24
Q

What are the names of the three layers of meninges that cover the brain and spinal cord?

A
  • Dura mater
  • Arachnoid mater
  • Pia mater
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25
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A

A broad, myelinated bundle of nerve fibres which connects the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain

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26
Q

What are the four lobes of the cerebral cortex?

A
  • Frontal lobe
  • Occipital lobe
  • Parietal lobe
  • Temporal lobe
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27
Q

What is the occipital lobe responsible for?

A

Processing visual information

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28
Q

What is the temporal lobe responsible for?

A
  • Interpreting speech / hearing
  • Olfaction
  • Learning / memory
  • Emotion
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29
Q

What is the parietal lobe responsible for?

A
  • Body orientation
  • Interpretation of somatosensory information
  • Taste
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30
Q

What is the frontal lobe responsible for?

A
  • Higher cognitive thought
  • Memory
  • Control of voluntary movement
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31
Q

What does the hypothalamus control?

A
  • Certain metabolic processes and autonomic activities
  • Body temperature
  • Hunger
  • Thirst
  • Involved with emotion
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32
Q

What does the thalamus control?

A

Relaying sensory input from the peripheral nervous system to the cerebral cortex

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33
Q

What does the amygdala control?

A

It is connected with the limbic system (which controls motivation-driven behaviours)

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34
Q

What does the hippocampus control?

A
  • Motivation
  • Emotion
  • Formation of memories
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35
Q

What does the basal ganglia control?

A

Movement

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36
Q

What is the limbic system?

A

A system of functionally regulated structures in the brain which are involved with emotion and motivation-driven behaviours

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37
Q

Damage to which subcortical regions would cause memory problems?

A
  • Hypothalamus

* Hippocampus

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38
Q

Damage to which subcortical regions would cause difficulty processing emotions?

A
  • Hypothalamus
  • Amygdala
  • Hippocampus
  • Thalamus
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39
Q

What are the four divisions of the spinal cord?

A
  • Cervical
  • Thoracic
  • Lumbar
  • Sacral
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40
Q

What systems is the autonomic nervous system further subdivided in to?

A
  • Enteric nervous system
  • Sympathetic nervous system
  • Parasympathetic nervous system
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41
Q

What is the enteric nervous system responsible for?

A
  • Communicating information about chemical changes and movement within the digestive system to the brain
  • Coordinating the release of digestive hormones
  • Muscle contraction of the digestive tract
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42
Q

Which nervous system would be activated in response to a stressful event?

A

The sympathetic nervous system

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43
Q

What is the dorsal root?

A

The neuronal pathway which carries sensory information from the periphery to the spinal cord

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44
Q

What is the ventral root?

A

The neuronal pathway which carries information from the brain to the spinal cord

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45
Q

What are reflex arcs?

A

Circuitry within the nervous system which is responsible for simple reflex actions

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46
Q

What is the name for the part of a neuron which receives information from other cells?

A

Dendrite

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47
Q

What is the purpose of myelin?

A

To enhance the speed with which a signal can move along the axon

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48
Q

What are areas of the brain which contain bundles of axons (nerve fibres) called?

A

White matter

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49
Q

What are regions of unmyelinated cell bodies referred to as?

A

Grey matter

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50
Q

How much of the body mass does the brain account for?

How much of the body’s energy requirements does it use?

A
  • Only 2%

* Around 20%

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51
Q

What type of junctions do the endothelial cells of the brain create?

A

Tight junctions

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52
Q

What is the purpose of CSF (cerebrospinal fluid)?

A

To cushion the brain and protect the spinal cord from trauma

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53
Q

Roughly how much circulating CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) does an adult have?

A

About 80 - 150ml

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54
Q

What are the main components of CSF (cerebrospinal fluid)?

A
  • Glucose
  • Proteins
  • Waste substances such as lactic acid and urea
  • Cations
  • Anions
  • Possibly white blood cells
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55
Q

What are the ventricles of the brain?

A

Cavities within the brain which are filled with CSF (cerebrospinal fluid)

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56
Q

Where are the lateral ventricles in the brain?

A

One is in each cerebral hemisphere, each under the corpus callosum

57
Q

What is the choroid plexus?

A

A network of blood vessels and epithelial cells found in the ventricles of the brain which produce CSF

58
Q

What is CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) mainly derived from?

A

Filtered blood

59
Q

What is the resting potential of a neuron?

A

-70 mV

60
Q

What happens to the resting potential of a neuron when sodium ions enter it?

A

The potential becomes less negative, and increases to -50 mV

61
Q

What is an action potential?

A

A coordinated change in the membrane potential that travels along the axon as a wave of electricity. It is commonly referred to as a nerve impulse

62
Q

Which ion is principally associated with neuronal depolarisation and repolarisation?

A
  • Sodium ions moving in to the neuron cause depolarisation

* Potassium ions moving out of the neuron cause repolarisation

63
Q

What are the nodes of Ranvier?

A

Small gaps in the myelin where ions move across the axon membrane during an action potential

64
Q

What is saltatory conduction?

A

The process by which, if myelin is present on an axon, the nerve impulse that is conducted will “jump” from node to node in the myelin layer

65
Q

What is a synapse?

A

The junction between two neurons, or between a neuron and a muscle cell, which allows for the transfer of messages from one cell to another using neurotransmitters

66
Q

What is a neurotransmitter?

A

A chemical substance released from the terminal ending of an axon into a synaptic cleft during the transmission of a nerve impulse, which relays information from one neuron to another (across a synapse)

67
Q

What are some of the common compounds which can act as neurotransmitters?

A
  • GABA
  • Serotonin
  • Adrenalin
  • Acetylcholine
  • Noradrenaline
  • Glutamate
  • Dopamine
  • Glycine
68
Q

What are excitatory neurotransmitters?

A

Neurotransmitters which increase the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential

69
Q

What are inhibitory neurotransmitters?

A

Neurotransmitters which decrease the likelihood that a neuron will fire an action potential

70
Q

What is summation (re neurons)?

A

The process by which a neuron “sums up” all the excitatory and inhibitory signals it has received over a period of time

71
Q

What is amyloid precursor protein (APP)?

A

A protein which is processed by secretase enzymes to produce the amyloid-Beta peptide

72
Q

What is amyloid-Beta?

A

A peptide which aggregates in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease

73
Q

What happens if levels of amyloid-Beta build up in the brain?

A

They cause synaptic dysfunction which impairs neuronal communication, which eventually causes neurons to die

74
Q

What is meant by the medical term ‘incidence’?

A

The number of new cases diagnosed in a population over a given time

75
Q

What is meant by the medical term ‘prevalence’?

A

The total number of cases in the population at a given time

76
Q

How many cranial nerve pairs are there which arise directly from the brain?

A

12

77
Q

Taste buds are embedded in epithelium which forms structures called what?

A

Papillae

78
Q

What are papillae (re the tongue)?

A

Specialised epithelial cells on the tongue’s surface which house chemical-sensitive taste buds

79
Q

What type of taste are fungiform papillae sensitive to?

A
  • Sweet
  • Salt
  • Sour
80
Q

What type of taste are foliate papillae sensitive to?

A

Bitter

81
Q

What type of taste are circumvallate papilllae sensitive to?

A

Bitter

82
Q

What type of taste are filiform papillae sensitive to?

A

They do not house taste buds! They are used to create friction and grip and detect food texture

83
Q

Which ions bind to taste receptors in order for us to detect sour tastes?

A

Hydrogen ions

84
Q

Which ions bind to taste receptors in order for us to detect salty tastes?

A

Metal ions, e.g. sodium and potassium

85
Q

What does the ability to taste sweet things come from?

A

The ability to detect sugars (both naturally occuring and artificial)

86
Q

Signals sent to which parts of the brain are involved in the perception of taste?

A
  • The primary gustatory cortex (frontal lobe)

* The thalamus

87
Q

What are the components of the outer ear?

A
  • The auricle (ear lobe)

* The auditory canal

88
Q

What are the components of the middle ear?

A
  • Tympanic membrane
  • Malleus
  • Incus
  • Stapes
89
Q

What are the components of the inner ear?

A
  • Bony labyrinth
  • Scala vestibuli
  • Scala tympani
  • Scala media
90
Q

Which are the specialised language centres of the brain that process sounds associated with speech?

A
  • Wernicke’s area

* Broca’s area

91
Q

What are the three categories which touch sensations can be divided in to?

A
  • Mechanoreception
  • Thermosensation
  • Nociception
92
Q

What is mechanoreception (re touch)?

A

Sensory receptors which produce action potentials in sensory neurons as a result of a deformation of their cell membrane, including touch receptors and hair cells

93
Q

What is thermosensation (re touch)?

A

Sensory information about temperature

94
Q

What is nociception (re touch)?

A

Pain that occurs in response to physical injury to the body tissues, where body tissues does not include nerves

95
Q

What are “Meissner’s corpuscles” (re skin)?

Where are they found?

A
  • Also called tactile corpuscles, they are egg-shaped encapsulated masses of dendrites
  • Located in hairless skin, and abundantly in hands, feet, lips, external genitalia
96
Q

What are “Pacinian corpuscles” (re skin)?

Where are they found?

A
  • Large oval structures consisting of a dendrite wrapped in a multilayered, connective tissue capsule. They are involved in sensing pressure
  • Throughout the body, in the dermis, subcutaneous and deeper regions (e.g. muscles)
97
Q

What are “Merkel’s discs” (re skin)?

Where are they found?

A
  • They are slow adapting touch receptors. Flattened, saucer-shaped free nerve endings which connect to Merkel cells
  • Abundantly in fingertips, hands, lips, external genitals
98
Q

What are “Ruffini’s corpuscles” (re skin)?

Where are they found?

A
  • Elongated, encapsulated receptors which respond to stretching, often associated with the movement of limbs
  • The dermis; hands and soles of feet
99
Q

What do Meissner’s corpuscles detect?

A
  • Light touch
  • Changes in stimulus
  • They give the sensation of touch, pressure and vibration
100
Q

What do Pacinian corpuscles detect?

A
  • High-frequency vibrations

* They give the sensation of pressure

101
Q

What do Merkel’s disks detect?

A

They give the sensation of pressure for as long as the stimulus is present

102
Q

What do Ruffini’s corpuscles detect?

A

Stretching movement which is caused by a limb or digit

103
Q

How are sensations of cold and heat relayed to the brain?

A

Via afferent pathways which are activated by transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels

104
Q

How many transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels have been discovered in humans?

A

28

105
Q

What is special about a-delta nerve fibres?

A

They are lightly myelinated

106
Q

Are C (nerve) fibres myelinated?

A

No

107
Q

What type of sensations are a-delta (nerve) fibres predominantly sensitive to?

A
  • Heat

* Mechanical

108
Q

What type of sensations are C (nerve) fibres) sensitive to?

A
  • Thermal
  • Mechanical
  • Chemical
109
Q

Which type of nerve fibre conducts information about pain faster, a-delta or C fibres?

A

A-delta

110
Q

What is proprioception?

A

The ability to sense the location, position, orientation and movement of the body and its parts in space

111
Q

What are “rapidly adapting” (nerve) receptors?

A

Ones which respond maximally when a stimulus is first presented, but then ‘adapt’ to the sensation and stop firing, even if the stimulus remains

112
Q

What are “slowly adaptin” (nerve) receptors?

A

Once which will fire for as long as the stimulus is present

113
Q

What is the dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathway?

A

The pathway which ascends the spinal cord and is responsible for relaying tactile information, joint position and vibration to the brain

114
Q

What is the spinothalmic (anterolateral) pathway?

A

Nerve fibres which ascend towards the brain and relay sensory information from the periphery regarding heat and pain

115
Q

A larger part of the cortex is dedicated to processing information from which body parts?

A
  • Face
  • Lips
  • Tongue
116
Q

What are the main wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum?

A
  • Gamma rays
  • X-rays
  • Ultraviolet
  • Visible
  • Infrared
  • Microwaves
  • Radio waves
117
Q

What is the range of wavelengths which are visible to the human eye?

A

From 380 nm to 780 nm

118
Q

Which part of the nervous system is responsible for controlling the size of the iris?

A

The autonomic nervous system

119
Q

What are the two types of photoreceptors we have in our eyes?

A
  • Cones

* Rods

120
Q

Which type of vision are cones responsible for detecting?

A
  • Detail

* Colour

121
Q

What are rods sensitive to?

A

Low levels of light

122
Q

From anterior to posterior, what is the order of the pathway by which visual information is communicated from the eye to the brain?

A
  • Optic nerve
  • Optic chiasm
  • Optic tract
  • Thalamus
  • Primary visual cortex
123
Q

Where are the visual association cortices in the brain?

A
  • Occipital lobe
  • Temporal lobe
  • Parietal lobe
124
Q

Where do the optic nerve fibres synapse within the brain?

A
  • The midbrain
  • The hypothalamus
  • The thalamus
125
Q

What bodily functions does the ANS (autonomic nervous system) control?

A
  • Respiration
  • Cardiovascular functions
  • Glandular functions
  • Digestion
126
Q

What functions does the PNS (parasympathetic nervous system) perform?

A
  • Accelerate heart rate/increase blood pressure/constrict vessels
  • Dilate pupils
  • Dilate bronchial passages
  • Decrease large intestinal motility
  • Increase oesophageal peristalsis
127
Q

What are astrocytes?

A

Small, star-shaped cells which provide support for brain homeostasis and neuronal metabolism

128
Q

What are microglia?

A

Immune cells which survey the CNS and respond to any signs of infection or damage

129
Q

What are oligodendrocytes?

A

Cells which form myelin

130
Q

Where does the olfactory nerve originate?

A

The olfactory bulb

131
Q

Where does the optic nerve originate?

A

The retina

132
Q

What does the trochlear nerve connect to?

A

Other eye muscles

133
Q

Where does the trigeminal nerve go to/from?

A
  • To: jaw muscles, tympanic membrane

* From: face, nose

134
Q

Where does the abducent cranial nerve travel to?

A

External eye muscles

135
Q

Where does the vestibiocochlear nerve originate?

A

The inner ear

136
Q

Where does the glossopharyngeal nerve travel to/from?

A
  • To: pharyngeal muscles

* From: heart, lungs, abdomen, external ear

137
Q

Where does the accessory nerve travel to?

A

Neck muscles

138
Q

Where does the hypoglossal nerve originate?

A

Tongue muscles

139
Q

What do glial cells do?

A
  • Bring nutrients to neurons
  • Insulate parts of neurons
  • Digest parts of dead neurons

SK299 (15 decks)

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