Scribd
Upload
33 views

Biology Lecture: (Nervous System)

The nervous system is divided into the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS contains the brain and spinal cord and controls higher functions like thinking as well as acting on stimuli from the senses. It is made up of several organs including the cerebrum, cerebellum, and hypothalamus that control functions like movement, balance, and circadian rhythms. The PNS contains all the nerves outside the CNS and transmits signals between the CNS and other parts of the body through sensory and motor neurons. It controls both voluntary and involuntary functions. The autonomic nervous system is a subdivision that regulates involuntary organs and processes like breathing and digestion.

Uploaded by

Jeramae Hope Buat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
33 views

Biology Lecture: (Nervous System)

The nervous system is divided into the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS contains the brain and spinal cord and controls higher functions like thinking as well as acting on stimuli from the senses. It is made up of several organs including the cerebrum, cerebellum, and hypothalamus that control functions like movement, balance, and circadian rhythms. The PNS contains all the nerves outside the CNS and transmits signals between the CNS and other parts of the body through sensory and motor neurons. It controls both voluntary and involuntary functions. The autonomic nervous system is a subdivision that regulates involuntary organs and processes like breathing and digestion.

Uploaded by

Jeramae Hope Buat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Biology Lecture: (Nervous System)

Nervous System (NS)


- It is the command center of the body. It is divided in to four main systems which are:
Central, Somatic, Peripheral, Autonomic.
Central Nervous System
- It is made up of a brain and the spinal cord. The central nervous system is responsible for
high intelligence based activities like speaking, thinking, processing of thoughts and
emotions and many more.
- It is also responsible for acting on certain stimulus felt by the five senses. The main organ
of the CNS is the brain. The brain is divided into different parts.
Organs (CNS)
- Spinal Cord serves as the main highway of conduction of impulses and message from the
brain to the various parts of the body and vice versa.
- Pons connects the cerebral cortex to the medulla; center of communication and
coordination between the two hemispheres of the brain.
- Medulla controls involuntary functions like respiration, digestion, swallowing and
sneezing; bridge signals from the spinal cord to the various parts of the body.
- Cerebellum coordinates movement and balance; monitors motor commands from the
cerebrum.
- Epithalamus regulates the secretion of melatonin (maintain the circadian rhythm); control
emotions, connects the limbic system to the other brain parts.
- Thalamus relays sensory impulses to and from the cerebral cortex.
- Hypothalamus serves as the body’s thermostat; regulate hunger, sleep, thirst, sexual urges
and mating behavior, flight and fight response, pleasure; controls the anterior pituitary
gland in secreting hormones.
- Cerebrum controls and regulates perception, thinking, voluntary movement and learning.
Peripheral Nervous System
- The division of the nervous system is made of all the nerves (group of neurons) and ganglia
(structure containing nerve cells and synapses between them) outside the brain.
- Synapse is a small gap at the end of a neuron that allows a signal to pass from one neuron
to the next.
- It contains the 8 cervical nerves :
o C1, C2, and C3 (the first three cervical nerves) control the head and neck, including movements
forward, backward, and to the sides. These nerves also play key roles in breathing.
o C4 helps control the shoulders as well as the diaphragm—the sheet of muscle that stretches to the
bottom of the rib cage—for breathing
o C5 controls upper body muscles like the deltoids (which form the rounded contours of the shoulders)
and the biceps (which allow flexion of the elbow and rotation of the forearm).
o C6 controls the wrist extensors (muscles like the extensor carpi radialis longus, extensor carpi
radialis brevis, and extensor carpi ulnaris that control wrist extension and hyperextension) and also
provides some innervation to the biceps.
o C7 controls the triceps (the large muscle on the back of the arm that allows for straightening of the
elbow).
o C8 controls the hands.
- The PNS is consisted of sensory neurons and motor neurons connected by a synapse.
- The sensory neurons sense the stimuli from the external environment and relays in to the
CNS for processing. When certain actions has already been decided by the CNS, this
impulse will sent to the motor neuron at the site where the stimulus was received for the
corresponding action to it.
- For example, you were walking on the road without any foot wear, suddenly you stepped
on a glass shard. Upon contact, the pain receptors in the skin of your foot would sense the
stimuli and will rely it through the spinal cord then to the brain. Once received by the brain,
the stimulus would be interpreted as pain. Now, as you felt pain, the brain would then send
an action signal to the foot that stepped on the glass shard to lift it up preventing deeper
penetration.
Autonomic Nervous System
- This portion of the NS controls/or facilitates most of the involuntary actions of the various
organ of the body. This system is responsible for breathing, beating of the heart, pattern of
wake and sleep cycle and etc. This system is made up of Sympathetic system which is
responsible for the “fight or flight or freeze” response while the other part, the
sympathetic system is responsible for “rest and digest” stress response.
Somatic Nervous System
- Is responsible to all voluntary activities of the body. This system is made up of two types
of motor neurons: The afferent neurons and efferent neurons.
- The afferent neurons are responsible to transmitting impulses from the area where your
received the stimulus to the CNS.
- Efferent neurons are responsible for the conductance of motor reflexes (bodily
movements) from the CNS to the area where the impulse was received.
- Afferent (to the CNS); Efferent (from the CNS)
Nervous System Disorders
- Encephalitis
- Meningitis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Huntington’s chorea disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Cerebral Palsy
- Epilepsy
- Poliomyelitis

You might also like