The Nervous System
The Nervous System
Master control and communication system of the body
It communicates with body cells using the electrical impulses, which are rapid and specific and cause
almost immediate responses.
Functions of the Nervous System
1. Sensory Input
- gather information
- Sensory Receptors monitor changes, called stimuli,
occurring inside and outside the body
2. Integration
- nervous system processes and interprets sensory
input and decides whether action is needed
3. Motor Output (Motor Response)
- a response, or effect, activates muscles or glands
Organization of the Nervous System
Structural Classification
- is based on the structures of the nervous system
1. Central Nervous System
2. Peripheral Nervous System
Functional Classification
- is based on the activities of the nervous system
1. Sensory (afferent) Division
2. Motor (efferent) Division
Structural Classification
Central Nervous System (CNS)
- occupy the dorsal body cavity
Organs:
1. Brain
2. Spinal Cord
Function
Integration; command center
Interprets incoming sensory information
Issues outgoing instructions based on past
experience and current conditions
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
- nerves extending the brain and spinal cord
1. Spinal Nerves- carry impulses to and from the spinal cord
2. Cranial Nerves- carry impulses to and from the brain
Functions:
Serve as communication lines among sensory organs, the brain and spinal cord, and glands or muscles
Functional Classification
Sensory (afferent) Division Motor (efferent) Division
- Nerve fibers that carry information to the central - nerve fibers that carry impulses away from the
nervous canal central nervous system organs to effector organs
- afferent literally means to go toward ( muscles and glands)
1. Somatic Sensory (afferent) Fibers Two Subdivisions:
- soma = body 1. Somatic Nervous System = voluntary
- carry information from the skin, skeletal - allow us to consciously (voluntarily) control our
muscles, and joints skeletal muscles
2. Visceral Sensory (afferent) Fibers 2. Autonomic Nervous System = involuntary
- carry information from visceral organs - regulates events that are involuntary (no
concious control)
- automatically controls smooth and cardiac
muscles and glands
- further divided into the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous systems
Functions:
Serve as communication lines among sensory
organs, the brain and spinal cord, and glands or
muscles
Nervous Tissue: Structure and Function
Nervous tissue is made up of only two principle types of cells
1. Supporting Cells (neuroglia or, glial cells or, glia)
Resemble neurons
Unable to conduct nerve impulses
Never lose the ability to divide
2. Neurons
Supporting Cells
Supporting cells in the CNS are “lumped together” as neuroglia.
Neuroglia- nerve glue (glial cells = glia)
Functions:
Support, insulate, and protect the delicate neurons
Different Types of CNS Neuroglia
1. Astrocytes
abundant; star-shaped cells
Have swollen ends that brace and anchors neurons to blood capillaries
Determine permeability and exchanges between blood capillaries and neurons (semipermeable)
Protect neurons from harmful substances in blood
Control the chemical environment of the brain by “mopping up leaked potassium
2. Microglia
Spider-like phagocytes
Monitor the health of nearby neurons
Dispose of debris (dead brain cells and bacteria)
3. Ependymal Cells
Line central cavities of the brain and spinal cord
Participate in the production of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF)
Cilia helps to circulate the CSF that fills those cavities and forms a protective watery cushion around the CNS
4. Oligodendrocytes
Wrap their flat extensions (processes) around the CNS nerve fibers
Produce myelin sheaths - fatty insulating coverings
Different Types of PNS Neuroglia
1. Schwann Cells
Form myelin sheath around nerve fibers in the PNS
2. Satellite Cells
Protect and cushion neuron cell bodies
Neurons
Neurons = nerve cells
Cells specialized to transmit messages ( nerve impulses) from one part of the body to another
Major regions of all neurons:
1. Cell body- nucleus and metabolic center of the cell
2. Processes- fibers that extend from the cell body
Cell Body
- is the metabolic center of the neuron
1. Transparent nucleus with large nucleolus
2. Cytoplasm contains the usual organelles except centrioles (which confirms the amitotic nature of most neurons)
3. Nissl Bodies- rough endoplasmic reticulum
4. Neurofibrils- intermediate filaments that maintain cell shape
Processes (fibers)
-vary in length from microscopic to over 3 ft. long
1. Dendrites
Conduct impulses toward the cell body
Neurons may have hundreds of branching dendrites
(dendr = tree)
2. Axons
Conduct impulses away from the cell body
Neurons have only one axon arising from the
cell body at the axon hillock - conelike region of the cell body
End in axon terminals, which contain hundreds of tiny vesicles,
or membranous sacs that contain chemicals called neurotransmitters
Axon terminals are separated from the next neuron by a gap called
the synaptic cleft
Synapse- functional junction where an impulse is transmitted
from one neuron to another
Although they are very close, neurons never actually touch other
neurons or target cells
Myelin Sheaths
Myelin
is a white, fatty material covering axons, has a waxy
appearance
Protects and insulates fibers
Speeds nerve impulse transmission
Schwann Cells
Wraps axons in a jelly roll-like fashion (PNS) to form the
myelin sheaths
1. Neurilemma (neuron husk)- part of the Schwann cell external
to the myelin sheath
2. Nodes of Ranvier- gaps in myelin sheath along the axon
Oligodendrocytes
Produce myelin sheaths around axons of the (CNS)
One oligodendrocyte can form many myelin sheaths
1. Lack a neurilemma ( plays a role in fiber regeneration)
TERMINOLOGY
1. Nuclei- clusters of cell bodies in the CNS
2. Ganglia- collections of cell bodies outside the CNS in the PNS
3. Tracts- bundles of nerve fibers (axons) in the CNS
4. Nerves- bundles of nerve fibers (axons) in the PNS
5. White Matter- consists of dense collections of myelinated fibers
6. Gray Matter- consists mostly unmyelinated fibers and cell bodies
Functional Classification
-neurons are grouped according to the direction the nerve impulse travels relative to the CNS
1. Sensory (afferent) Neurons
Carry impulses from the sensory receptors to the CNS
Keep us informed about what is happening both inside and outside the body
Dendrite endings of SN are associated with specialized receptors that are activated by specific changes
occuring nearby
Receptors include:
1. Cutaneous sense organs in skin detect pain, temperature, touch, pressure
2. Proprioceptors in muscles and tendons detect stretch (Propria = Latin word “one’s own”)
TYPES OF SENSORY RECEPTORS
2. Motor (efferent) Neurons
Carry impulses from the central nervous system to viscera and/or muscles and glands
Cell bodies of motor neurons are usually located in the CNS
3. Interneurons ( associated neurons)
Cell bodies located in the CNS
Connect sensory and motor neurons in neural pathways
Structural Classification
- based on number of processes extending from the cell body
1. Multipolar Neurons- many extensions from the cell body
All motor and interneurons are multipolar
Most common structural type
2. Bipolar Neurons- one axon and one denfrite
Located in special sense organs, such as nose and eye
Rare in adults
3. Unipolar Neurons- have a short single process leaving the cell body
Sensory neurons found in PNS ganglia
Conduct impulses both toward and away from the body cell
Physiology: Nerve Impulses
Functional Properties of Neurons
1. Irritability- ability to respond to a stimulus and convert it to a nerve impulse
2. Conductivity- ability to transmit the impulse to other neurons, muscles, or glands
Electrical Conditions of a Resting Neuron’s Membrane
I. Resting Membrane is Polarized
1. The plasma membrane at rest is inactive (polarized)
2. Fewer positive ions are inside the neuron’s plasma membrane than the outside
3. K+ is the major positive ion inside the cell
4. Na+ is the major positive ion outside the cell
5. The polarized membrane is more permeable to K+ than to Na+ at rest, maintaining a more negative inside (fewer
positive ions) compared to the outside, as K+ ions exit the cell
6. As long as the inside of the membrane is more negative (fewer positive ions) than the outside, the cell remains
inactive (resting state of the Neuron)
Action Potential Initiation and Generation
II. Stimulus Initiates Local Depolarization
1. A stimulus changes the permeability of the neuron’s membrane to sodium ions
2. Sodium channels now open, and sodium (Na+) diffuses into the neuron
3. The inward rush of sodium ions changes the polarity at the site and is called depolarization
III. Depolarization and Generation of an Action Potential
1. A graded potential (localized depolarization exists where the inside of the membrane is more positive and the
outside is less positive
2. If the stimulus is string enough and sodium influx is great enough, local depolarization ( graded potential)
activates the neuron to conduct an action potential ( nerve impulse)
IV. Propagation of the Action Potential
1. If enough sodium enters the cell, the action potential (nerve impulse) starts and is propagated over the entire
axon
2. ALL-OR-NONE RESPONSE means the nerve impulse either propagated (conducted, or sent) or is not
3. Fibers with myelin sheaths conduct nerve impulses more quickly
V. Repolarization
1. Membrane permeability changes again- becoming impermeable to sodium ions and permeable to potassium
ions
2. Potassium ions rapidly diffuse out of the neuron, repolarizing the membrane
3. Repolarization involves restoring the inside of the membrane to a negative charge and the outer surface to a
positive charge
VI. Initial Ionic Conditions Restored
1. Initial conditions of sodium and potassium ions are restores using the sodium-potassium pump
2. This pump, using ATP, restores the original configuration
3. Three sodium ions are ejected from the cell while two potassium ions are returned to the cell
4. Until repolarization is complete, a neuron cannot conduct another nerve impulse
Transmission of the Signal at Synapses
Step 2: Calcium ions, in turn, cause the tiny vesicles
Step 1: When the action potential reaches the axon
containing the neurotransmitter to fuse with the axonal
terminal, the electrical charge opens calcium channels
membrane
Step 3: The entry of calcium into the axon terminal
causes porelike openings to form, releasing the
neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft
Step 4: The neurotransmitter molecules diffuse across
the synaptic cleft and bind to receptors on the
membrane of the next neuron
Step 5: If enough neurotransmitter is released, a
graded potential will be generated
Eventually an action potential ( nerve impulse) will
occur in the neuron beyond the synapse
Step 6: The electrical changes prompted by
neurotransmitter binding are brief
The neurotransmitter is quickly removed from the
synapse either by reuptake or by enzymatic
activity
Transmission of an impulse is electrochemical
1. Transmission down neuron is electrical
2. Transmission to next neuron is chemical
Physiology: Reflexes
Reflexes
Rapid, predictable, and involuntary responses to stimuli
Always goes in the same direction
Occur over neural pathways called reflex arcs
Two types of Reflexes:
1. Somatic Reflexes
2. Autonomic Reflexes
Somatic Reflexes Autonomic Reflexes
Reflexes that stimulate the skeletal muscles Regulate the activity of smooth muscles, the
Involuntary, although skeletal muscel is normally heart, and glands
under voluntary control Example: regulation of smooth muscles, heart and
Example: pulling your hand away from a hot blood pressure, glands, digestive system
object
Elements of Reflex Arcs
1. Receptor- reacts to the stimulus
2. Effector- muscle or gland eventually stimulated
3. Sensory- connect the two
4. Motor Neurons- connect the two
5. Synapse or Interneurons between the sensory and
motor neurons
Types of Reflex Arcs
1. Two-neuron/ Monosynaptic reflex arcs
Simplest type
Example: patellar (knee-jerk) reflex
2. Three-neuron/ Polysynaptic reflex arcs
Consists of Five Elements:
1. Receptor
2. Sensory Neuron
3. Interneuron
4. Motor Neuron
5. Effector
Example: Flexor (withdrawal) reflex
