Professional Documents
Culture Documents
chemical signals)
Serves three broad functions:
1. Sensory Input:
Sensory receptors monitor changes occurring inside and outside the body. The gathered
information is called sensory input
2. Integration:
Nervous system processes and interprets sensory input and decides what should be
done at each moment process called Integration
3. Motor Output:
Nervous system causes a response, called motor output, by activating effector organs
muscles and glands
Central Nervous System:
consists of the brain and spinal cord, which occupy the dorsal body cavity
integrating and command center of the Nervous System
interprets sensory input and dictates motor responses based on reflexes, current conditions
and past experiences
Consists of nerve fibers (axons) that convey impulses to the central nervous system from
sensory receptors located throughout the body
Somatic Afferent: sensory fibers conveying impulses from the skin, skeletal muscles, and joints
Visceral Afferent: sensory fibers conveying impulses from visceral organs (within ventral cavity)
Efferent Division:
Transmit impulses from the CNS to effector organs (muscles and glands)
Impulses activate muscles to contract and glands to secret
Bring about a motor response
Visceral motor nerve fibers that regulate activity of smooth muscles, cardiac muscles and glands
Sympathetic Division
Stimulate organ activity
Parasympathetic Division
Decreases organ activity
Nervous system consists mostly of nervous tissue closely packed together (only 20% matrix)
Made up of neurons (conduct electrical signals)
Supporting cells aka neuroglia (smaller cells that surround and wrap more delicate neurons)
ten times more numerous than neurons
Neuroglia or glial cells (nerve glue) that are found in the CNS
Cover nearby capillaries, supporting and bracing the neurons and anchoring them to their
nutrient supply lines, the blood capillaries (link neurons and capillaries by wrapping themselves
around them)
Play a role in making exchanges between capillaries and neurons
in helping to determine capillary permeability
in guiding the migration of young neurons
and in synapse formation
control chemical environment around neurons, where their most important job is mopping
up leaked K+ ions and recapturing (and recycling) released neurotransmitters
helps-form blood-brain barriers (chemically and structurally)
may function as antigen-presenting cells (macrophage-like, immune response)
Microglia:
Ependymal Cells:
Oligodendrocytes:
Line up along thicker neuron fibers in the CNS and wrap their processes tightly around the
fibers, producing insulating coverings called myelin sheaths (protein lipoid)
Myelin sheath insulates and protects the neuron and increases synapses speed
(also contains nodes but in a different arrangement)
Neuroglia or glial cells (nerve glue) that are found in the PNS: Schwan cells and satellite cells: special
supporting and protecting cells, and also function as phagocytes
Contains well defined nucleus and nucleolus, granular cytoplasm and most all organelles
(contains no centrioles; these are primarily used in cell division)
Major biosynthetic center of a neuron
Nissl bodies: (chromatophilic substance)
Granular endoplasmic reticulum orderly arrangement for protein synthesis, for growth of
neurons, and regeneration of nerve fibers
Neurofibrils:
Conduct impulses toward the cell body (main receptive or input region)
Thick, highly branched tapered extension of cell cytoplasm part of the cell body
Produce graded potentials (short distance signals)
Provide an enormous surface area for receiving signals from other neurons
Myelin protects and electrically insulates fibers, and it increases the speed of transmission of
nerve fibers
Myelin sheath is only associated with Axons (dendrites are always unmyelinated)
Cytoplasm, organelles, and nucleus (functional parts of the cell) are pushed to the outermost
layer and form the nuerilemma (neural husk) ONLY IN PNS. Nuerilemma is absent in CNS
Channel and carrier proteins are absent in myelinating cells that make myelin sheaths good
electric insulators
Myelin gives the neuron process their white -> color white matter
Unmyelinated gaps between Schwann cells, along nerve fibers (at regular intervals)
These gaps are where the axons contain most of their membrane (ion) channels
Nodes work with the myelin sheath to increase the speed of conduction (saltatory conduction)
Unmyelinated:
Structural Classification:
Multipolar neurons: (multiple processes)
One axon, one dendrite (extend from opposite sides of the cell body)
Rare: found only in the retina of the eye, in olfactory areas, and inner ear (special senses)
emerge from cell body and divide into T-like proximal and distal branches
one central branch
dendrite and axon fuse into one process
chiefly found in dorsal root ganglia in the PNS, as sensory neurons
least common type in the body
Functional Classification:
Sensory/afferent neuron -> CNS
cell bodies are located in dorsal root ganglia just outside CNS
carry sensory input from viscera, muscles, skin, etcto CNS
virtually all are unipolar neurons
Coverings:
Endoneurium:
3. Potential difference: voltage is always measured between two points- this different called
potential difference. This is due to the positive and negative ions held part on either side of
the plasma membrane (net charge)
4. Current: flow of electric charge from one point to another
5. Resistance: the hindrance to charge flow provided by substances through which the current
must pass (high resistance=insulators), (low resistance=conductors)
6. Ohms Law: I=V/R The greater the voltage (V) the greater the current (I), the greater the
resistance (R), the less the current (I) flows
2 major types of membrane channels:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Occurs across plasma membrane, negative inside ( cytoplasmic side inside the neuron-(-70mV)
and positive outside (extracellular fluid)
All gated NA+ and K+ channels are closed, only the leakage channels are open, maintaining
resting membrane potential
All cells of the body are in polarized state:
Cytoplasm contains a lower concentration of NA+ , and a higher concentration of K+,
than the extracellular fluid, contributing to + charge outside, and charge inside
Plasma membrane is more permeable (passively) to K+ ions out of the cell, and Na ions in to
the cell
K+ flowing out of the cell causes the cell to become more negative inside
Na+/K+ pump (requires ATP)
reduction of membrane potential, decrease negativity inside the cell (uses both graded and
action potentials)
Na+ channels open , leading to influx of Na+ (positive charged ions) into the cell. With increase
of Na+ ions entering the cell, the inside of the cell becomes less negative/more positive.
Electrical potential of membrane changes
Charges move from -70 mV (value inside the cell) towards O mV and beyond
At approximately -50 to -55 mV, it reaches threshold (now electrically gated channels
open and start a positive feedback: Hodgkin cycle) As a result, the influx of Na+ ions
continues (all or none) until the inside is positive (+30 mV) and the outside is negative
This will produce an action potential (called a nerve impulse when transmitted)
Lasts about 1 msec
Continuous conduction: a self-propagating (at a constant velocity) wave of negativity
along the outside of the cell membrane of unmyelinated fibers
Gates are self-limiting; they will close on their own
Repolarization
The time at which the membrane is becoming depolarized (Na+ gates are open until they began
to reset) and cannot be depolarized again no matter how strong the stimulus
Ensures that each action potential is a separate, all-or-none event
After absolute refractory (Na+ gates are closed & outgoing K+ gates are still open)
Threshold is harder to reach than normal, due to the undershoot (now at -90 or -100 further
away from -55 mV [threshold], and so a substantial summation of graded potentials is needed to
reach threshold and produce an action potential
Velocity: (speed of nerve impulse) is not dependent on strength of stimuli, but on structural and
physiological condition of fibers
Velocity is influenced by diameter and degree of myelination:
Diameter:
The larger the diameter, the faster the impulse
Larger axons offer less resistance to the flow of local currents
Degree of myelination:
Myelin acts as an insulator and thus increasing the rate of stimulus
Nodes of Ranvier:
Interruptions of the myelin sheath (between Schwann cells (PNS) and oligodendrocytes (CNS)
where membrane channels are found) along the axons
site where membrane depolarization occurs
Saltatory Conduction: impulse appears to jump from node to node this configuration greatly
increases speed of impulses (allow for greater efficiency) (about 30 times faster than continuous
conduction)
Mostly somatic sensory and motor fibers serving the skin, skeletal muscles and joints
Have the largest diameter and thick myelin sheaths
Conduct speeds ranging up to 150 m/s (over 300 miles per hour)
B and C Fibers:
Autonomic nervous system motor fibers serving the visceral organs; visceral sensory fibers; and
smaller somatic sensory fibers transmitting afferent impulses from the skin (such as pain and
small touch fibers)
B Fibers:
C Fibers:
Synaptic delay: lasts 0.3-5.0 msec (greater delay with multi-synaptic pathways)
Diameter of axon: larger-> faster; smaller->slower
Myelination: presence of->faster; absence of->slower
Temperature: warmer-> faster; colder-> slower
Synaptic delay: less synapse-> faster; more synapse-> slower
The Synapse:
1. A junction that mediates information transfer from one neuron to the next or from a neuron to
an effector cell-its where the action is
2. Presynaptic neuron: neuron conducting impulses toward the synapse (info sender)
3. Postsynaptic neuron: neuron transmitting electrical signal away from the synapse (info receiver)
4. Synaptic cleft: a fluid filled space approximately 30-50 nm wide separating two neurons (space
between presynaptic and post synaptic membranes)
5. Before the cleft, presynaptic; after the clef, postsynaptic
Neurotransmitter (chemical synapse)
1. Acetylcholine:
1st neurotransmitter identified
Used as a means of communication by neurons
Released at neuromuscular junctions
Released at the synapse by the presynaptic neurons and binds to a receptor on
postsynaptic structures such as neurons, muscles, glands (chemical gated channels)
2. Acetylcholinesterase :
Found in the synaptic cleft of adjacent neurons
Inactivates acetylcholine (within 1/500 sec) , which causes membrane channels to close
and postsynaptic cells to repolarize
Summation: local depolarization of postsynaptic membrane that brings neuron closer to AP threshold.
Either through temporal or spatial summation
Temporal Summation (over time)
Occurs when one or more presynaptic neurons transmit impulses in rapid-fire order and bursts
of neurotransmitter are released in quick succession
First impulse produces a small EPSP, and before it dissipates, successive impulses trigger more
EPSPs.
Produce a much greater depolarization of the postsynaptic membrane than would result from a
single EPSP
Single presynaptic neuron firing numerous times in close succession
Spatial Summation:
Occurs when the postsynaptic neuron is stimulated at the same time by a large number of
terminals from the same or, more commonly, different neurons
Several presynaptic neurons at the same time