Peripheral Nervous System

Nervous System

- center of all mental activities such as thought, learning, and memory -

responsible for regulating and communicating in the body.

The Nervous System is divided into two: Central and Peripheral Nervous System

Peripheral Nervous System

- enables us to feel things, to move, and to function well internally.

- Puts our brain in touch with the physical environment around us, and allowing it to respond with
the use of receptors in the nerves.

Organs of the Peripheral Nervous System

1. Nerves (Cranial and Spinal Nerves)

2. Ganglia – relay points

- Ganglia can be thought of as synaptic relay stations between neurons. The information
enters the ganglia, excites the neuron in the ganglia and then exits.
- The cell bodies of the sensory neurons are located in the dorsal ganglia of the spinal
cord.
- A ganglion is a group of neuron cell bodies in the peripheral nervous system. In the
somatic nervous system this includes dorsal root ganglia and trigeminal ganglia among a
few others.

Among vertebrate animals there are three major groups of ganglia. These include:

1. Dorsal root ganglia or spinal ganglia where the cell bodies of sensory or afferent nerves are
located.
2. Cranial nerve ganglia that contain the neurons of the selected cranial nerves.
3. Autonomic ganglia, which contain the cell bodies of the autonomic nervous system.
The 12 Cranial Nerves

The cranial nerves are a set of 12 paired nerves that arise directly from the brain.

The first two nerves (olfactory and optic) arise from the cerebrum, whereas the remaining ten emerge from
the brain stem.

Overview of the 12 cranial nerves

Nerve CN Function Type
Olfactory I Olfaction (smell) Sensory
Optic II Vision Sensory
Oculomotor III • Eye movement Motor
• Pupillary constriction
• Accommodation
• Eyelid opening
Trochlear IV Eye movement (superior oblique muscle) Motor
Trigeminal V • Facial sensation Both
• Mastication

Abducens VI Eye movement (lateral rectus muscle) Motor

Facial VII • Facial movements Both
• Taste from anterior ⅔ of tongue (chorda tympani)
• Lacrimation
• Salivation
• Eyelid closing
• Auditory reflex
Vestibulocochlear VIII • Hearing Sensory
• Balance

Glossopharyngeal IX • Taste and sensation of posterior ⅓ of tongue Both

• Monitoring of carotid body and sinus chemoreceptors
and baroreceptors
• Elevation of pharynx/larynx
Vagus X • Taste from supraglottic region Both
• Swallowing
• Soft palate elevation
• Speech
• Cough reflex
• Parasympathetic innervation to
thoracoabdominal
viscera
• Monitoring aortic arch chemoreceptors and
baroreceptors
 Accessory XI • Head turning Motor
• Shoulder shrugging
Hypoglossal XII Tongue movements Motor

Some of these nerves bring information from the sense organs to the brain like it is involved in
special senses, like vision, hearing, and taste; other cranial nerves control muscles, especially the
muscle control of the face; other cranial nerves are connected to glands or internal organs such
as the heart and lungs.

Spinal Nerves

Each spinal nerve is attached to the spinal cord by two roots:

a dorsal (posterior) root, which relays sensory information and

a ventral (anterior) root, which relays motor information.

- Each Spinal Nerve is attached to the spinal cord by two roots:

Dorsal (Posterior) Root – relays sensory information.
Ventral (Anterior) Root – relays the motor information.

- Therefore, once the two roots come together to form the spinal nerves, it carries a combination of
both sensory and motor information.

TRAVEL OF SENSORY AND MOTOR INFORMATION

- The sensory root carries sensory impulses from the body to the spinal cord, that relays the
information to the brain.

-The motor root carries impulses from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles of the body.
- Spinal nerves are divided into five main categories:
-8 Cervical nerves (C1-C8)
-12 Thoracic nerves (T1-T12)
-5 Lumbar nerves (L1-L5)
-5 Sacral nerves (S1-S5)
-1 Coccygeal nerve

Nerve Plexuses
- After the spinal nerves exit the spine, they join together to from four paired clusters of nerve
networks called plexuses.
FOUR PAIRED CLUSTERS:

•Cervical Plexus – responsible for the distribution of the nerves to the neck and shoulders.
•Branchial Plexus – responsible for the distribution of the nerves to the upper back, shoulders,
arms, and hands.
•Lumber Plexus – responsible for the distribution of nerves to the lower extremities.
•Sacral Plexus – responsible for the distribution of nerves to the back of thigh, leg, bottom of the
foot, and pelvis.

Peripheral Nervous System

- consists of the nerves that branch out from the brain and spinal cord -
its main function is to connect the CNS to the body parts

Somatic Nervous System

- associated with conscious or voluntary activities
- body movements with the use of skeletal muscles

- movements are refined and coordinated by various structures in the CNS,

including extrapyramidal regions and the cerebellum

Somatic Sensory - sensations that involves touch, but there are certain things you might not know is
classified as somatic sensory, it includes temperature and movement.

- Motor Neurons (response)

- efferent fibers that carries instructions from CNS to the muscles
(efferent: moving away from)
- It is the cell responsible for giving us signals towards our bodies from our brain’s
judgement, obviously connected to what we see in our peripheral vision

- Sensory Neurons (stimulus)

- afferent fibers that carries sensory information such as smell, taste, hearing, sight,
and touch to the CNS
(afferent: moving towards)
- It is the cell that tells us what we just felt after feeling a specific sensation

Autonomic Nervous System

- associated with unconscious or involuntary activities, such as your heart beating,
eye reflexes and digestion
-in charge of body functions that aren't normally under our control.

- Sympathetic Nervous System

- involved in preparing the body for stress-related activities helps us with
environmental hazards by activating the flight-or-fight response.
 - activated when we face stressful or high-arousal situations
- responds by speeding up the heart rate, breathing faster, increasing blood
supply to muscles, triggering perspiration secretion, and dilation of the pupils. -
responsible for the regulation of sweating to control the body temperature, on
metabolism, as well as kidney activity

- Parasympathetic Nervous System

- associated with returning the body to its normal routine; day-to-day operations,
‘rest’ and ‘digest’ conditions
- undoes the work of sympathetic division after a stressful situation. - helps the
body maintain the resting heart rate (60-100 beats per min.) - undoes the work
of sympathetic division after a stressful situation.
- its main purpose is to conserve energy to be used later and to regulate our bodily
functions so we, our body can function properly and coordinate with other
systems in our body.

Examples of the areas the PSNS acts on include:

• eyes
• lacrimal glands that produce tears
• parotid glands that also produce saliva
• salivary glands that produce saliva
• nerves in the stomach and trunk
• nerves that go to the bladder
• nerves and blood vessels responsible for the male erection
References:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yanv-qOKLKU&ab_channel=Medzcool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n02mnEyWmQw&ab_channel=TheNotedAnatomist
https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/nervous/organization/
https://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/nervous/organization/pns.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY9NTVh-Awo&ab_channel=CrashCourse
·https://www.christopherreeve.org/living-with-paralysis/health/how-the-spinal-cord-works