Nervous system

• Homeostasis: is the state of steady internal physical and chemical conditions

maintained by living systems.

• Neurons: are specialized nerve cells that help you gather information about
your environment, interpret the information, and react to it.
Neurons consist of three main regions:
1. The dendrites
2. A cell body.
3. An axon

• Dendrites: receive impulses from other neurons and conduct impulses to the
cell body, which contains the nucleus and other organelles.

• Axon: passes these impulses on to the other neurons or muscles.

• There are three kinds of neurons: sensory neurons, interneurons, and motor
neurons.

• Sensory neurons: send impulses from receptors in the skin and sense organs
to the brain and spinal cord.

• Interneurons: carry impulses to motor organs.

• Motor neurons: carry impulses away from the brain and spinal cord to a gland
or muscles, resulting in a secretion or movement.

• The nerve impulse completes a reflex arc, or a nerve pathway that consists of
a sensory neuron, an interneuron, and a motor neuron.
 The central nervous system
The brain:
• Brain: is sometimes called the control center of the entire body.

• Cerebrum: is the largest part of the brain.

It carries out thought processes involved with learning, memory, language, speech,
voluntary body movements, and sensory perception.
 • Cerebellum: controls balance, posture,
and coordination.

• Medulla oblongata: relays signals between

the brain and the spinal cord. It also helps
control breathing rate, heart rate, and
blood pressure.

• Pons: relays signals between the cerebrum

and the cerebellum and helps control the
rate of breathing.

• Hypothalamus: regulates body temperature, thirst, appetite, and water

balance. It also partially regulates blood pressure, sleep, aggression, fear,
and sexual behavior.

The spinal cord:

• Nerve column that extends from the brain to the lower back protected by the
vertebrae,processes reflexes.

Somatic SN Vs Autonomic NS
Somatic system:

• Somatic system: serves the skin, skeletal muscles, and tendons.

(The brain is always involved in voluntary muscle actions, but
somatic system reflexes are automatic and may not require
involvement of the brain)

• Nerves running to skeletal muscle system (under voluntary control)

• Motor neurons → voluntary effectors (skeletal muscle)

• Control exists in the cerebrum & cerebellum (coordination)

Nervous system:

• All autonomic nerves are motor nerves that regulate the organs of the body
without conscious control; involuntary.

• Control exists in the medulla.

• Effectors are smooth muscle (digestive system), cardiac muscle (heart) and
glands (exocrine & endocrine)

• Responsible for maintaining homeostasis during times of rest and during

emergencies.
Consists of two parts:

Sympathetic Parasympathetic

Prepares the body for stress, including Restores normal balance, times of
"fight or flight" response relaxation.

Short preganglionic nerve (Ach), long Long preganglionic nerve (Ach), short
postganglionic nerve (NEp) postganglionic nerve (ACh)

Originate in the thoracic vertebrae (ribs) Originate in the brain (cranial nerves) or
and lumbar vertebrae (small of back) the spinal cord.

Examples of Sympathetic and parasympathetic

actions:

Disorders associated with the Nervous System:

• Parkinson's Disease: inadequate production of dopamine in the brain

causes involuntary muscle contractions and tremors; can be partially
alleviated with L-dopa (synthetic dopamine)

• Spinal Cord Injuries: through injury or disease, the spinal neurons are
damaged, Results in loss of motor control-degree of which depends on
where the damage occurred.

• Alzheimer's Disease: decrease in CNS levels of acetylcholine.

• Multiple Sclerosis: degeneration of the Myelin sheath; Many

symptoms, partial paralysis, double vision, speech problems.
 • Epilepsy: brain injury or lack of oxygen to the brain; Seizures - grand
mal or petit mal - transient loss of muscle control.

The peripheral nervous system:

Nerves in the somatic nervous system relay information from external sensory
receptors to the CNS, and somatic motor nerves relay information from the CNS to
skeletal muscles.
Voluntary movements and reflexes are a part of the somatic nervous system.
Autonomic nervous system carries impulses from the central nervous system to the
heart and other internal organs.
The body responds involuntarily, not under conscious control.
There are two branches of the autonomic nervous system:
• The sympathetic nervous system is most active in times of emergency or
stress when the heart rate and breathing rate increase.
• The parasympathetic nervous system is most active when the body is
relaxed.

Nervous impulse
Neuron at rest:

• Neurons at rest do not conduct impulses.

• Sodium ions (Na+) collect on the outside of the cell membrane.

• Potassium ions (K+) collect on the inside of the cell membrane.

• Negatively charged proteins actively transport sodium ions out of the cell and
potassium ions into the cell.

Action potential:

• A nerve impulse is also known as an action potential.

• The minimum stimulus to cause an action potential to be produced is called a

threshold.

When a stimulus reaches the threshold, channels open in the plasma membrane.
Sodium ions are rapidly pumped through these channels, causing a temporary
change in the electrical charges. More positive charges are now inside the
membrane. The now positive charge inside the membrane causes other channels to
open, and the potassium is quickly pumped out of the cell. The potassium restores
the positive charge outside the cell. This rapid positive to negative to positive
charge reversal moves along the axon like a wave. The movement can be seen by
finding the sodium-potassium reversal pattern in the three diagrams.

Speed of an action potential:

• Nodes along the axon allow ions to pass through the myelin layer to the
plasma membrane.

• The
ions jump from node to node and increase the speed of the impulse.

The synapse:

• The small gap between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of another
neuron is called a synapse.
• An action potential is carried across
these gaps by neurotransmitters,
chemicals that diffuse across a
synapse and bind to receptors on the
dendrite of a neighboring neuron.

The main difference between myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers is

that myelinated nerve fibers contain a myelin insulation whereas unmyelinated
nerve fibers do not contain a myeline insulation. The myelin sheath is made up of
lipids and proteins.
 Taste and smell

• Specialized neurons in your body enable you to taste, smell, hear, see, and
touch, and to detect motion and temperature.

• Taste buds detect combinations of chemicals that we identify as:

• Sweet
• Sour
• Salty
• Bitter

• Receptors
associated with taste and smell are located in
the mouth and nasal cavity.

• Signals from these receptors work

together to create a combined effect
in the brain.

Sight:

• Light travels through the cornea and the pupil to the lens.
 • The lens inverts
and projects the
image to the
retina.

• Rods and cones in

the retina provide
light-sensitivity
and information
about color.
•

Hearing and balance

Hearing:

• Sound waves enter the auditory canal and cause a membrane, called the
tympanum, at the end of the ear canal to vibrate.
 • These vibrations travel through the malleus, the incus, and the stapes.

• Vibrations cause fluid in the cochlea to move, generating nerve impulses that
are interpreted by the brain.

Balance:

• The semicircular canals, located in the inner ear, transmit information about
body position and balance to the brain.

Touch

• Many types of sensory receptors that respond to temperature, pressure, and

pain are found in the epidermis and dermis layers of the skin.

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