The Nervous System

Control and coordination

Working together of various integrated body systems in response to changes in the surrounding
for the maintenance of bodily functions is known as control and coordination
Nervous system and endocrine system provide control and coordination in animals.

Nervous system

Neurons -functional units of the nervous system, conduct messages in the form of electrical and
chemical impulses
Neuron composed of cell body and dendrite, axon and nerve endings.

Types of neuron:-
Sensory neuron
Motor neuron
Relaying or intermediate neuron

Nerve: A nerve is a collection of nerve fibres (or axons) enclosed in a tubular medullary sheath.
This sheath acts as an insulation and prevents mixing of impulses in the adjacent fibres.

Transmission of nerve impulse:

Under normal conditions, the outer side of the nerve fibre consists of positive charge as more Na+
ions are present outside axon membrane. The neuron is then said to be in polarised state. On
stimulation, the membrane becomes more permeable and Na+ ions move inside causing
depolarisation. Such a region is known as excited region. The point of depolarisation behaves as
stimulus for the neighbouring area and this goes on. In the mean time, the previous area becomes
repolarised due to active transport (using ATP) of Na+ ions with the help of sodium pump.

Synapse- a small gap between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of the next neuron
Parts of the nervous system

Human nervous system divided into- central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous
system (PNS)
CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord
PNS consists of the nerves that connects the CNS to different parts of the body
The Brain, spinal cord, and nerves are the important parts of the nervous system

Brain

The brain is enclosed in a bony box called the cranium and spinal cord is protected by vertebral
column.
The brain and spinal cord are externally covered by protective covering called meninges.
It is made up of three layers namely duramater (outer layer), arachnoid (middle layer),
piamater (inner layer).
The space between meninges is filled by a watery fluid called cerebro- spinal fluid (CSF).

Human brain is classified into- forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain.

Forebrain- It consists of cerebrum, thalamus, and hypothalamus.

It has following functions:
It is the thinking part of the brain.
The forebrain has sensory regions that receive sensory impulses from various receptors.
 It has motor regions that control the movement of various muscles (such as the leg
muscles).
Cerebrum controls intelligence, learning, memory, thinking, and speech.
Hypothalamus contains many areas that control things such as body temperature, urge for
eating and drinking, etc.
Midbrain- It is mainly concerned with the sense of sight and hearing.
Hindbrain- It consists of pons, medulla, and cerebellum.
It has following functions:
Most of the involuntary actions such as heartbeat, blood pressure, movement of food in the
alimentary canal, salivation, etc., are controlled by the midbrain and medulla of the
hindbrain.
Cerebellum is responsible for voluntary actions and maintaining the posture and
equilibrium of the body.

Spinal Cord

It is the continuation of the medulla oblongata and runs through the vertebral column.
The spinal cord is made up of two similar halves fused together to form a central canal containing
the cerebrospinal fluid.
The outer portion of the spinal cord is known as the white matter, which consists of nerve fibres.
The inner portion contains the cell bodies of neurons and is known as the grey matter.

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)

ANS comprises of sympathetic as well as parasympathetic nervous system

The general functions of the sympathetic division are concerned with preparing the body for
emergencies (increased blood pressure and rate of heartbeat, increased release of stored nutrients,
increased respiration rate, dilation of pupils), whereas the parasympathetic division is primarily
involved with conserving energy and replenishing energy stores.

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

PNS comprises of cranial nerves and the spinal nerves.

The details of cranial nerves are as follows

Number Name Nature Major function

1. Olfactory Sensory Smell
2. Optic Sensory Sight
3. Oculomotor Motor Movement of eyeball
4. Trochlear Motor Rotation of eyeball
5. Trigeminal Mixed Sensation of touch and taste
6. Abducens Motor Rotation of eyeball
Taste, facial expression saliva
7. Facial Mixed
secretion, neck movement
8. Auditory Sensory hearing, equilibrium
 9. Glosso-pharyngeal Mixed Taste, saliva secretion
Gastric and pancreatic secretion, GI
10. Vagus Mixed
movement visceral reflexes
11. Spinal accessory Motor Muscle movement visceral reflex
12. Hypoglossal Motor Tongue movement

Spinal Nerves

Spinal nerves are the nerves originating from the spinal cord by means of two roots- a dorsal root
and a ventral root.

All the spinal nerves are mixed nerves

Man has 31 pairs of spinal nerves which are again put into five different categories

1. Cervical (8 pairs)

2. Thoracic (12 pairs)

3. Lumbar (5 pairs)

4. Sacral (5 pairs)

5. Coccygeal (1 pair)

Three types of responses of the nervous system are- reflex action, voluntary action and
involuntary action
Reflex action
Sudden movement or response to a stimulus
Occurs in very short duration of time
Does not involve will or any thinking of brain
E.g. If we touch hot plate, we immediately pull our hand back.
Voluntary action
Actions such as writing, talking etc. that can be controlled consciously.
Involuntary action
Actions such as breathing, digestion etc. that cannot be controlled consciously.

Reflex action –

It is an automatic action or response provoked by a stimulus.

Reflex pathway is comprised of the following:

Receptor: It includes sense organs that receive stimulus.
Sensory or afferent neuron: It conducts the nerve impulse from receptor to the
spinal cord or brain.
Association neuron: It helps to transmit nerve impulse from sensory neuron to motor
neuron.
Motor or efferent neuron: It transmits nerve impulse to the effector organs like
muscles or glands.
 Effector: It includes muscles or glands where action takes place in response to
stimulus.

Sense Organs: Organs that helps us to be aware of our surroundings are known as sense organs.

Receptors: Any cell or tissue sensitive to a selective stimuli are called receptors.

Eye

Composed of three layers:

Outermost layer- sclera and cornea

Middle layer- choroid, ciliary body, iris
Innermost layer- retina, with rod cells and cone cells.

Just behind the iris, a transparent, biconvex, and elastic structure called lens is present.

Rods – Contain rhodopsin pigment that is highly sensitive to dim light

Cones – Contain iodopsin pigment that is sensitive to high intensity light. Cones are also
responsible for colour vision.

Blind spot – Area where photoreceptors such as rods and cones are absent

Fovea – Area that contains only cones. Vision is finest and sharpest in this zone.

Aqueous chamber – Space between cornea and lens; contains aqueous humour.

Vitreous chamber – Space between lens and retina; contains vitreous humour

Pupil regulates the amount of light entering into the eyes.

Specific abilities of eyes

Power of Accommodation
Stereoscopic Vision

Common Defects of Eye

Defect Characteristic features

Myopia (short- In this, nearby things are visible clearly, but distant things become
sightedness) blurred.
Can be corrected using a concave lens

Hypermetropia In this, the nearby objects appear blurred while the distant objects are
(long- sightedness) clear.
Can be corrected using a convex lens
 Astigmatism Uneven curvature of the cornea is responsible for imperfect image of
the objects.

Glaucoma The aqueous humour is regularly supplied by arterial capillaries and

reabsorbed by venous capillaries of ciliary body.

Presbyopia In this, the lens loses its flexibility in older people and they are not able
to see nearby objects clearly.

This defect is corrected by wearing spectacles with convex lens.

Cataract The protein fibres in the lens degenerate and the lens becomes opaque.
The person loses clarity in the vision.

Squint In squint, either both the eyes converge (cross eye) or diverge (wide
eye).

Colour blindness Person cannot differentiate between colours such as red and green.

It occurs in the people with prolonged diabetes.

The blood vessels of the retina may leak, close up or begin to grow due
to diabetes.
Diabetic retinopathy
The blood may enter the clear jelly like fluid called vitreous humour
and make it opaque causing blindness.

Ear

Organ for hearing and equilibrium

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Crista and macula are receptors of vestibular apparatus that are responsible for maintaining body
balance and posture.

Organ of corti is the main hearing structure of internal ear. It is located on basilar membrane that
has hair cells. The middle ear contains three small bones – malleus, incus, and stapes (arranged
from outside to inside).

Mechanism of hearing

Pinna collects sound waves and directs it towards ear drum

Transmission of vibrations towards fenestra ovalis through ear ossicles

Generation of sound waves in lymph

Ripple created in basilar membrane bends the hair cells (of organ of corti) against tectorial membrane

Sound waves converted into nerve impulses

Impulse carried to cortex of brain

Impulse analyzed and sound is recognized

Role of Ear in balancing Body

When we turn our head

fluid inside the semicircular canals moves

pushing against the sensory hair cells

sending nerve impulse to brain -->via auditory nerve

cells present in the semicircular canals are highly sensitive to dynamic equilibrium.

we are able to balance our body.

Nose

It is the sense organ of smell.

Sensory receptors are present in the nasal cavity.
Sends impulses through olfactory nerve.

Skin

It is the sense organ for the sense of touch and feel.

Also protects the body.
Has two layers, epidermis and the dermis.
Has sweat glands, oil glands and hair follicles.

Tongue

It is the sense organ of taste.

Have taste buds to recognize tastes like sweet, sour, bitter and salty.