Our brain, a very complex body organ, is the major part of the nervous system.

The nervous system is

The nervous system is your body's decision and communication center. The first division, the central
nervous system (CNS), consists of the brain and the spinal cord while the second division, the peripheral
nervous system (PNS), involves all of the nerves. Together, they control every part of your daily life, from
breathing and blinking to helping you memorize facts for a test. Nerves reach out from your brain to your
face, ears, eyes, nose, and to the spinal cord which connects to the rest of the body. Figure 1.1 The brain
structure
What Is It MAJOR DIVISIONS AND PARTS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM In this section, the different
components that make up the nervous system will be discussed in more detail. THE CENTRAL
NERVOUS SYSTEM The CNS receives and processes all of the information from all parts of the body. In
other words, it controls the entire organ system of the body. The following are the major parts of the CNS:
A. The Brain The brain is the control center of the nervous system. It has three main parts: the forebrain,
midbrain and hindbrain. Moreover, it is divided into three main regions: the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain
stem. Figure
Parts and Functions of the Brain
Forebrain contains the cerebrum, thalamus, hypothalamus and hippocampus
 Cerebrum center of intelligence and thinking; associated with higher brain functions such as thought and
action ○ Frontal Lobe associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and
problem solving ○ Parietal Lobe associated with movement, orientation and the recognition and perception
of stimuli ○ Occipital Lobe associated with visual processing ○ Temporal Lobe associated with perception
and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory and speech
 Thalamus relays motor and sensory signal to the cerebrum
 Hypothalamus regulates the sleep-wake cycle
 Amygdala controls emotions such as fear and aggression
 Hippocampus holds memory storage and retrieval
Midbrain connects the forebrain and hindbrain
Hindbrain holds the cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata
 Cerebellum for coordination, movement, posture and balance
 Pons involves motor control and sensory analysis
 Medulla Oblongata controls autonomic functions
B. The Spinal Cord The spinal cord is about 40-50 cm long. Through it, the brain and the body becomes
interconnected. Composing the nerve tissues of the cord is a gray and white matter. The spinal cord
transmits impulses all over the body to and from the brain. It is also responsible for involuntary movements.
THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM The PNS contains all the nerves outside the brain and the
spinal cord. It carries impulses from the sensory nerves to the CNS and from the CNS to the motor nerves.
The PNS is further divided into two more divisions – the somatic and autonomic nervous systems.
a. The Somatic Nervous System (SNS) The SNS regulates the activities that are under conscious control. It
includes all the nerves controlling the muscular system and external sensory receptors. Specifically, these
receptors refer to the external sense organs – the eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue.
b. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) This is a part of the PNS which includes the motor neurons that
control the internal organs. This means that the ANS regulates all activities that are considered as
involuntary or those reflexes that are done without conscious will. Some of its functions include controlling
the muscles in the heart and the smooth muscles in the internal organs such as the intestines, bladder and the
uterus.
The autonomic nervous system is further subdivided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous
systems.
1. Sympathetic - It is known as the “fight or flight response” which controls the internal functions of the
body in times of stress. In addition, it is responsible for the acceleration of heart rate, the constriction of
blood vessels and the rise of blood pressure.
2. Parasympathetic – It is known as the “rest and digest” which is the opposite of the sympathetic nervous
system. It controls the internal functions at rest. Thus, it slows down the heart rate and increases the
intestinal and gland activities

THE NEURONS The basic unit of the nervous system is the neuron or nerve cell which carries impulses to
the nervous system. A neuron is composed of the following parts: dendrites, nucleus, cell body, axon,
nodes of Ranvier, myelin sheath cells and the axon terminal

A neuron is composed of the cell body which contains the nucleus and is covered by myelin sheath with
an axon terminal at its end. The dendrites receive the impulses and carry these toward the cell body
while the axon carries the impulses away from the cell body which passes along the different parts of
the neuron. Axons then pass the impulses to the dendrites of the other neurons’ cell body in the muscle
cells. At the end of these dendrites, signals originate as a dendrite is called the receptor site of neurons.
Classification of Neurons

1. Sensory or affective neurons carry impulses from the sense organs to the brain and spinal cord.
2. Motor or effective neurons carry impulses from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles.
3. Associative neurons, located in the CNS, analyze and interpret the data or impulses.

How is a message transported?

The stimulus had triggered the information sent to the central nervous system as the reaction to the
stimulus response happened. The five sense organs namely, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin collect
the information and send it to the brain in a nerve impulse. A nerve impulse is a wave of a chemical
reaction and electrochemical change. When a nerve impulse reaches the axon terminal,
neurotransmitters are released which send the information across the synapse to stimulate the next
neuron. The information transmitted is called action potential. Meanwhile, reaction time happens in the
length of time between the activation of the stimulus up to its recognition. In order to live day by day, an
organism must be able to respond to these different stimuli.

Homeostasis is the condition wherein the human body system is maintained in balance despite the
changing factors outside. The organ system of the body which includes the cells, tissues and other body
parts is responsible in maintaining the balance inside. This is possible by making the internal
environment always in good condition by keeping things in balance and to make certain adjustments, if
needed. Regulating the internal environment is very important to make the organs function well. The
following components are necessary in maintaining homeostasis:

1. Stimulus – The variable that is being regulated.

3. Control Center – It matches the data to the normal values.

4. Effector – The organ, gland, muscle or other body parts that act on the message from the control
center to move back to the set point to regulate the body

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) is the genetic material of all organisms on Earth from microbes to plants
and human beings. An organism’s complete set of DNAs, including all of its genes is called genome. A
genome contains a complete set of information which determines inherited physical characteristics such
as height, skin, eye and hair color and many others. Every cell in a human body nearly has similar DNA
and in eukaryotic cells (cells that contain a nucleus and organelles, and are enclosed by a plasma
membrane). The DNA is a thin long molecule found in the cell’s nucleus which is made up of nucleotides.
The basic structure of nucleotide consists of a phosphate group, sugar and a nitrogenous base which will
be further discussed in the next lessons. The four different type of nucleotides of DNA are adenine,
thymine, guanine and cytosine which are represented by their first letter A, T, G, C. These four
nucleotides are paired as (Adenine-Thymine) and (Guanine-Cytosine) into billions to organize a double
helix structure.

DNA Replication is the process of DNA duplication from an existing DNA. The replication of DNA is
important for the growth repair and reproduction of cells of an organism. This process occurs in the
nucleus of eukaryotic cells before a cell divides either by mitosis of meiosis. When a cell divides, each
resulting cell keeps a copy of all of your chromosomes. The major key players in DNA replication are the
enzymes helicase, primase, DNA polymerase and ligase. Helicase is the unzipping enzyme and unzips the
two strands of DNA in the double helix through the hydrogen bond that holds the two base pairs
together. Primase will initialize the process and directs the DNA polymerase for it to figure out where it
gets to start. This primer is the starting point for DNA synthesis. The primers are made of RNA
(Ribonucleic Acid). Its major role is to act as a messenger carrying instructions from DNA for controlling
the synthesis of proteins. DNA polymerase is the builder enzyme which replicates DNA molecules in
order to build a new strand of DNA. Ligase is the gluer. which helps glue DNA fragments together to
form the new strand of DNA. Let us now proceed to the three major steps of DNA replication (initiation,
elongation and termination) and see what happens in each stage.

Step 1: Initiation DNA replication starts at the Origin of Replication. The unzipping enzyme Helicase,
causes the DNA strand separation, which leads to the formation of the replication fork. It breaks the
hydrogen bond between the base pairs to separate the strand, thus separating the DNA into individua
strands

Step 2: Elongation During elongation, DNA Polymerase III makes the new DNA strand by reading the
nucleotides on the template strand and binding one nucleotide after the other to generate a whole new
complementary strand. It helps in the proofreading and repairing the new strand. DNA Polymerase is
able to identify and back track any mis paired nucleotides and corrects it immediately. The bases
attached to each strand then pair up with the three nucleotides found in the cytoplasm. If it finds an
Adenine (A) on the template, it will only add a Thymine (T). If it finds a Guanine (G) on the template, it
will only add a Cytosine (C).
Step 3. Termination In the previous steps of DNA replication, at the Origin, a Primer helps the DNA
Polymerase to initiate the process. As the strand is created, the primer has to be removed. This is when
DNA Polymerase I comes into the picture to replace the RNA nucleotides from the Primer with DNA
nucleotides to make sure it is DNA all the way through. When DNA Polymerase III adds nucleotides to
the lagging strand and forms Okazaki fragments, it leaves a gap or two between the fragments. These
gaps are filled by the enzyme ligase and makes sure that everything else is connected

RNA (Ribonucleic Acid), unlike the double stranded DNA, is a nucleic acid polymer with a single strand. It
is composed of the four nucleotides adenine, uracil (replaced thymine in DNA), guanine and cytosine
which are represented by their first letter A, U, G, C. (The only difference with DNA is the Uracil). RNA is
the first intermediate in converting the 17 information from the DNA into proteins which is important
for proper cellular function. Below is a short summary of the difference between

DNA

-Contains the sugar deoxyribose

-Double-stranded molecule

-Stable under alkaline conditions

-Storing and transferring genetic information

- Uses the bases adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine

RNA

-Contains the sugar ribose (ribose has one more -OH group than deoxyribose)

-Single-stranded molecule

-Not stable under alkaline conditions

-Acts as a messenger between DNA and ribosomes to make proteins

-Uses adenine, uracil, cytosine, and guanine

RNA falls into three major categories: Messenger RNA (mRNA), Transfer RNA (tRNA) and Ribosomal RNA
(rRNA). mRNA copies the genetic code from the DNA into a form that can be read and used to make
proteins. mRNA transmits genetic information from the nucleus to the cell’s cytoplasm. rRNA is situated
in the cytoplasm of a cell, where we can find the ribosomes. rRNA leads the translation of mRNA into
proteins. tRNA transfers amino acids to the ribosome that matches to each three-nucleotide codon of
rRNA. The amino acids then can be combined together and processed to make polypeptides and
proteins. Transcription in protein synthesis is the process where RNA is made from the DNA by copying
the base sequence of the double stranded DNA into a piece of a single stranded nucleic acid. This
transcription process is catalyzed by the enzyme RNA Polymerase.

*Ribosome The ribosome is a complex organelle, present in the cytoplasm, which serves as the site of
action for protein synthesis. It provides the enzymes needed for peptide bond formation. The nucleotide
sequence in mRNA is recognized in triplets, called codons. The ribosome moves along the single strand
mRNA, and when a complimentary codon sequence belonging to amino acid bearing tRNA bonds with
the mRNA, the amino acid is added to the chain. The mRNA possesses a stop codon, a sequence of three
nucleotides that indicates that translation is complete. Upon reaching the stop codon, the ribosome
ceases translation and releases the mRNA and newly generated polypeptide. *

Messenger RNA (mRNA) mRNA is used to convey information from DNA to the ribosome. It is a single
strand molecule, complimentary to the DNA template, and is generated through transcription. Strands
of mRNA are made up of codons, each of which signifies a particular amino acid to be added to the
polypeptide in a certain order. mRNA must interact with ribosomal RNA (rRNA), the central component
of ribosomal machinery that recognizes the start and stop codons of mRNA, and transfer RNA (tRNA),
which provides the amino acid once bound with a complimentary mRNA codon.

*Transfer RNA (tRNA) This is a single strand of RNA composed of approximately 80 ribonucleotides. Each
tRNA is read as a ribonucleotide triplet called an anticodon that is complementary to an mRNA codon.
tRNA carry a particular amino acid, which is added to the growing polypeptide chain if complimentary
codons bond.

Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases These are enzymes that link each amino acid to their corresponding tRNA
with the help of a two-step process. Each amino acid has a unique synthetase and the active site of each
enzyme fits only one specific combination of the amino acid and tRNA. (14)

There are three major steps in translation: initiation, elongation, and termination. These steps are briefly
discussed below: (14)

1. Initiation After mRNA is formed in the nucleus, it leaves and moves to the cytoplasm where it finds
the ribosome. Small ribosomal subunits then bind to mRNA. The initiator tRNA which is equipped with
the anticodon (UAC) also binds to the start codon (AUG) of the mRNA. Let us say we have the mRNA
codon AUG-UGC-AAG-UCC-GGA-CAG, the tRNA anticodon would be UACACG-UUC-AGG-CCU-GUC. The
resulting large complex forms a complete ribosome and initiates protein synthesis. Each different tRNA
is covalently linked to a particular amino acid.

2. Elongation Following initiation, a new tRNA-amino acid complex enters the codon next to the AUG
codon. If the anticodon of the new tRNA matches the mRNA codon, base pairing occurs and the two
amino acids are linked by the ribosome through a peptide bond. If the anticodon does not match the
codon, base pairing cannot happen and the tRNA is rejected. Then, the ribosome moves one codon
forward making space for a new tRNA-amino acid complex to enter. This process is repeated several
times until the entire polypeptide has been translated.

3. Termination As the ribosome moves along the mRNA, it encounters one of the three stop codons for
which there is no corresponding tRNA. Terminator proteins present at the stop codon bind to the
ribosome and trigger the release of the newly synthesized polypeptide chain. The ribosome then
disengages from the mRNA. On release from the mRNA, the small and large subunits of the ribosome
dissociate and prepare for the next round of translation. The polypeptide chains produced during
translation undergo some post-translational modifications, such as folding, before becoming a fully
active protein.