Nervous System

Content

o Introduction of nervous system

o Organization of nervous system
o Nervous tissue
o Neurons and its types
o Supporting cells
o Ascending tract and descending tract
o Reflex
 Introduction

 Nervous system is:

 A physically connected network of cells, tissues and
organs that allow us to communicate with and react to
the environment and perform life activities.
 Master controlling and communicating system
 Has two main division
 Central nervous system
 Peripheral nervous system
 FOUR PRIMARY FUNCTIONS OF
NERVOUS SYSTEM

 Sensing the world

 Vision, Hearing, Smell,
Taste, Touch
 Transmitting information
 Processing information
 Producing a response
 Organization

A. Central Nervous System (CNS)

▫ Brain & spinal cord
▫ Integrative and control centers
-Receives, interprets and sends signals to PNS
B. Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
▫ Nerves (31 pairs of spinal nerves,12 pairs of cranial nerves)
▫ Communication lines between CNS and rest of body
▫ Two Divisions:
1. Sensory (afferent) Division: Sensory receptors --
CNS

2. Motor (efferent) Division: CNS -- effectors (muscles &

glands)
 Motor Division

 Somatic nervous system (voluntary)

- control skeletal muscles
 Autonomic nervous system (ANS) (involuntary)
– regulate smooth muscles, cardiac, glands
▫ Subdivisions:
o Sympathetic :
o “Fight or Flight”
o Activated during emergencies, exercise or vigorous physical activity
o Revs up body to respond to situations that upset homeostasis
o Parasympathetic:
o “Rest & Digest”
o Reduces energy use
o Promotes:
o Storage of energy
o Elimination of wastes
o Homeostasis
 THE COMPLEX BRAIN

 The mammalian brain is

highly complex, containing
many specialized regions
that carry out specific
functions.

 Generally, the brain is

divided into:
 Hindbrain
 Midbrain
 Forebrain
 Hindbrain

 Medulla:
 Controls autonomic
functions.
 Pons:
 Controls sleep stages.
 Cerebellum:
 Coordinates movement,
stores some motor memory.
 Helps maintain posture,
muscle control, and
balance
 Midbrain

 Located between the hindbrain and

forebrain.
 All sensory and motor information that
travels between the forebrain and the
spinal cord passes through the midbrain
 making it a relay station for the central
nervous system.
 the “traffic cops” of the brain.
 Filters sensory input, which allows us to
concentrate.
 Filtering can be affected by higher
thoughts.
 Forebrain

 Thalamus:
 relay station channeling
sensory information.
 Limbic system:
 basic emotions, drives,
and behaviors.
 Cortex:
 higher thought
 Limbic system
“controls: emotions and memories”

 Hypothalamus:
 Master controller of the
endocrine system.
 Amygdala:
 sensations of pleasure
or fear, recognition of
fear in others.
 Hippocampus:
 formation of memories.
Damage to these areas can lead to
amnesia or emotional disturbances
 Cortex Top layer of the brain
Stores: experiences and/or learning

Sensory info
behavior & emotion
 Various areas : concerning touch

 control
sensory
processing
 motor
control,
vision
 thought,
memory &
 memory. emotion, speech
and hearing
 Spinal cord
 Grey matter
 mostly made up of cell bodies of neuron
 White matter
 composed of nerve fibers ( ascending and descending tracts )
embedded in neuroglial cells
 Nervous Tissue

1. Neurons (nerve cells)

• Functional unit of the nervous system
• Transmit message
Anatomy:
 Cell body – contains nucleus; metabolic center
 Dendrite – fiber that conveys messages toward cell body
 Axon – conduct nerve impulses away from the cell body
 Axon terminals – end of axon; contain neurotransmitters&
release them
 Synaptic cleft/synapse – gap between neurons
 Nervous Tissue

2. Supporting cells (Neuroglia)

 CNS: astrocytes, microglia, ependymal cells,
oligodendrocytes
 barrier between capillaries and neurons protect
neurons
 immune/defense
 line brain and spinal cord cavities wrap nerve
fibers
 produces myelin sheaths (covering)

 PNS: Schwann cells, satellite cells

 surround large neurons protect & cushion
Myelin
 Whitish, fatty material that covers nerve fibers to
speed up nerve impulses
Schwann cells
 Surround axons and form myelin sheath
Myelin sheath
• Tight coil of wrapped membranes
Nodes of Ranvier
 Gaps between Schwann cells
• Ganglia: collections of cell bodies
• Bundles of nerve fibers = tracts (CNS) or nerves (PNS)
• White matter
• Dense collections of myelinated fibers
• Gray matter
• Unmyelinated fibers & cell bodies
• (nerve cell bodies, dendrites, axon terminals, bundles of
unmyelinated axons and neuroglia (gray color)
 The Neuron

 Dendrites receive
signals.
 The cell body integrates
signals.
 The axon transmits
action potential. The
myelin sheath makes
the signal travel faster.
 Synaptic terminals
transmit signals.
 Neurons

 Neuron Function
 Irritability:
 ability to respond to stimulus &
convert to nerve impulse
 Conductivity:
 transmit impulse to other neurons,
muscles, or glands
 Classification of Neuron
 Functional Classification
 Structural Classification
 1. Functional Classification:
Direction nerve impulse is traveling

Sensory Motor
Interneurons
neurons neurons
carry impulses from carry impulses from
sensory receptors to CNS to muscles & connect sensory &
CNS glands motor neurons

Vision, hearing,
equilibrium, taste,
smell, pain,
pressure, heat
2. Structural Classification:
Processes extending from cell body

Multipolar Bipolar Unipolar

1 axon, several
1 axon, 1 dendrite 1 process
dendrites
Short with 2
Most common
Rare branches (sensory,
(99%)
CNS)
Eg. Motor
Eg. retina, nose,
neurons, Eg. PNS ganglia
ear
interneurons
 Nerve Impulses

Exciting a Neuron
 Cell membrane at rest = polarized
 Na+ outside cell, K+inside cell
 Inside is (-) compared to outside
 Stimulus ---excited neuron (Na+ rushes in)--
becomes depolarized
 Depolarization activates neuron to transmit an
action potential (nerve impulse)
 All-or-none response
 Impulse conducts down entire axon
 K+ diffuses out ---repolarization of membrane
 Na+/K+ ion concentrations restored by sodium-
potassium pump (uses ATP)
 Synapse

 Neurons usually do not connect

directly to one another. A gap
called a synapse controls the
transmission of signals.
 Depending on the site of the presynaptic
synapse, they are often neuron
referred to as axodendritic,
axosomatic, or axoaxonic
 Types of synapse
 Chemical
 Neurotransmitter

 Electrical
Post synaptic
neuron
 Information Transfer Across Chemical
Synapse

 Action potential reaches

axon terminal ----
vesicles release
neurotransmitters (NT)
into synaptic cleft
 NT diffuse across
synapse
bind to receptors
of next neuron
 Transmission of a nerve
impulse =
electrochemical event
Segmental division of Spinal cord
 Spinal cord
 Grey matter
 mostly made up of cell bodies of neuron
 White matter
 composed of nerve fibers ( ascending and descending tracts )
embedded in neuroglial cells
 CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
integration / processing / modulating

motor / descending tracts

sensory / ascending tracts

lower motor neurone

PNS
receptor neurone transmission

stimulus effector organ / response

 Ascending tract
 The ascending tracts transmit sensory information from the sensory
receptors to higher levels of the CNS.
sensory information
 exteroceptive sensation
 origin:-outside the body e.g. temp, touch, light, sound, chemicals,
mechanical
 receptors:- surface layer of skin, mucosa
 proprioceptive sensation
 origin:-within
1st
the body e.g. muscles, joints, tendons
 receptors:- deeper layer of skin, tendons, joints, muscle spindles,
ligaments
Information
• conscious sensation
– reach the cerebral cortex
• unconscious sensation
– reach to the areas other than cortex
 Ascending tract
VPL

The pathways consist of thousands of sets of three

neurons: first-order neuron, second-order neuron, and a 2nd
third-order neuron.

1st

• cross the mid line

• in front of central canal
 Ascending tract
 First order neuron :
 cell body in posterior root ganglion
 peripheral process connects with sensory receptor ending
 central process enter the spinal cord through the posterior root
 synapse with second order neuron in spinal gray matter
 Second order neuron:
 cell body in posterior gray column of spinal cord
 axon crosses the midline ( decussate )
 ascend & synapse with third order neuron in nucleus of thalamus
 Third order neuron:
 cell body in the thalamus
 give rise to projection fibres to the cerebral cortex, postcentral
gyrus ( sensory area )
 Ascending Tracts of the Spinal
Cord

 Lateral Spinothalamic Tract

 pain, temperature
 Anterior Spinothalamic Tract
 touch, pressure
 Posterior White Column: Fasciculus
Gracilis and Fasciculus Cuneatus
 conscious proprioceptive sense,
discriminative touch, vibratory sense
 Posterior Spinocerebellar
Tract&Anterior Spinocerebellar Tract
 unconscious information from muscle,
joints, skin, subcutaneous tissues
 Spinotectal Tract
 Spinoreticular Tract
 Spino-olivary Tract
 Descending tracts

 The descending tracts originate from different cortical areas

and from brain stem nuclei.

 The descending pathway carry information associated with

maintenance of motor activities such as posture, balance,
muscle tone, and visceral and somatic reflex activity
 The Descending Tracts
of the Spinal Cord

 Corticospinal Tracts
 for fine skilled movements
 Reticulospinal Tracts
 Inhibit or facilitate voluntary
movement; hypothalamus
controls sympathetic, para-
sympathetic outflows
 Rubrospinal Tract
 Vestibulospinal Tract
 Olivospinal Tract
 Tectospinal tract
 Reflex postural movements concerning sight

 Descending Autonomic Fibers

Corticospinal Tracts
Neuron Function
1. Irritability: ability to respond to stimulus &
convert to nerve impulse
2. Conductivity: transmit impulse to other
neurons, muscles, or glands
 Reflex

 Reflex is an action that is performed without conscious

thought as a response to a stimulus.
 Rapid, predictable, involuntary responses to stimuli
1. Somatic Reflexes: stimulate skeletal muscles
 Eg. jerking away hand from hot object
2. Autonomic Reflexes: regulate smooth muscles, heart, glands
 Eg. salivation, digestion, blood pressure, sweating

 Reflex arc
 It is the nerve pathway involved in a reflex action,
including at its simplest a sensory nerve and a motor
nerve with a synapse between them.
 Reflex Arc

1) Receptor - reacts to stimulus

2) Sensory Neurons - afferent impulses to CNS
3) Integration centers - synapses in CNS
4) Motor Neurons - efferent impulses from Integration centers to
effector
5) Effector - muscle or glands
 Reflex Activities
Patellar (Knee-jerk)
Reflex
Gently tap your quadriceps tendon, which is located immediately
below your knee cap, with a reflex hammer
Pupillary Reflex
Optic nerve --brain stem--muscles
constrict pupil
• Useful for checking brain stem
function and drug use
 Other Reflexes

Stimulus (receptors) Response (effector)

The aroma of your favorite Salivation
food
A nasty odor Nausea

A bright light shining in your Pupils get smaller

eye
An insect flying towards your Blinking
eye
Voluntary Reactions

• More neurons and synapses are involved --

longer response times

Reflex = Involuntary Reaction Voluntary Reaction