The sensory system

The sensoty system comprises five organs: the eye, which is responsible for sight, the skin,
which is responsible for touch, the nose, responsible for smell, and the tongue, responsible for
taste.

THE EYE – the eye is a most important sensory organ. It is a complex,intncate,and fairly delicate
structure. The eyeball, which is sphere-sharped, is about 25mm across, Its concentriclayers of
tissue. The sclera, which is visible as the white of the eye, is the outermost layer of the eye. One
fifth of its anterior part is known as the cornea, which is a dome-shaped structure often called
“the window of the eye”. The conjunctiva which is a transparent covering, lines the sclera as
well as the inner surface of the eyelids.

The choroid, which is beneath the sclera, is a layer rich in blood vessels that supply the eye
tissues with pxygen and nutrients. Towards the front od the eye the choroid thickens to form
the ciliary body. The anterior part of the choroid is called the iris, which is pigmented, muscular
diaphragm. Depending on the particular pigment present in the iris, a person will have blue,
brown or green eyes. In the centre of the iris there is a black disk-like opening called the pupil .
Light passes through the pupil in order to reach the light-sensitive cells deep inside the eye. The
amount od light to enter the eye is controlled by contraction or dilatation of the pupil. This
adjustment is regulated by the puscles od the iris.

The retina is the innermost layer which lines the rear three-quarters of the eyeball. It includes a
layer of light sensitive nerve cells called the rods and cones because of their shapes. There are
125 million rods and 7 million cones in each eye. Since the rods are very sesnsitive to light
intensity, they enable us to see in dim light. The cones detect colour and fine details. Posteriorly
the retina extends to the optic nerve that connects the rear of the retina to the brain. The optic
nerve, which is actually a collection of nerves, is a stalk-like structure.

The crystalline lens, which is a transparent elastic body,divides the interior portion of the
eyeball in two compartments (anterior and posterior). The anterior compartment lies between
the cornea and the lens and is filled with a watery substance called the aquaous humor. This
compartment is partly divided by the iris into two chambers. The posterior compartment,
which extends from the lens to the optic nerve, makes up the bulk of the eyeball. It is filled with
a jelly-like substance called the vitreous body. The ciliary body muscles change the curvature od
the lens thus enabling the ey to focus on objects at varying distances is called accommodation.

How we see – Light passes through the cornea and pupil to reach the lens. The lends forms an
upside-down image of whatever we are looking at. This image is sent to the retina through the
vitreous body. The rods and cones of the retina transform the sensation of colour, formm and
light intensity into nerve impulses. These impulses are then transmitted along the retinal nerver
fibers to the optic nerve. It transmits the nerve impulses to the centre of vision in the brain. The
brain then interprets the impulses received from each eye, reverses the image, and integrates
the impulses into one three-dimensional image.

THE EAR – The ear is the organ of balance as well as hearing. It had three parts: the outer,
middle and inner ear.

The outer ear includes the auricle, or pinna, and the external auditory meatus, or outer ear
canal. The aurical, which is a shell-shaped structure, is actually the part of the ear that we see. It
is composed of folds of skin and cartilage. The meatus is passage about 20mm long , is lined
with skin that contains wax-producing glands and hairs. A thin membrane called the tympanic
membrane, or eardrum, stretches across the end of the meatus. It separates the outer ear from
the middle ear.

The nervous system

The nervous system is composed of two parts: the central nervous system, which
comprises the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, which is a vast
network of nerves throught the rest of the body.

The brain, which is located in the cranial cavity, consist of three main components: the paried
hemispheres, the cerebellum and the brain itself. A cross-section of the brain reveals the corpus
callosum, which links the cerebral hemispheres. Each hemisphere has a core of white matter
surrounded by a layer of gray matter called cerebral cortex divided into motor and sensory. The
hypothalamus is part of the diencephalon, concerned with body temperature, sleep and
appetite. The pituitary gland, which is the most important hormone-production gland, is
located just beneath the hypothalamus. The cerebellum whith lies in the rear part of the
cerebral hemispheres, is also divided into hemispheres. The brain stem which is about 75mm
long, connects the brain to the spinal cord.

The brain has four interconnected cavites called ventiricles. They are connected to the
long central canal that runs down the brain stem and into the middle od the spinal cord. Both
the ventricles and the canal that connects them with the spinal cord are filled with
cerebrospinal fluid.
 Various parts of the brain locate nerve centres responsible for specific body function.
Most of these centres are located in the cerebral hemispheres. The comprise nearly 90% of the
brain tissue. The hemispheres are made up of intricate folds od nerce tissues whose total
surface area is approximately the same as the area of a large sheet of newspaper, thoush each
hemisphere is about 15 cm from front to back and about 5.5 cm across. The cerebral
hemispheres control awanomotory activities of the body as well as memory and intelegence.
Some of these activities are controlled by specific centres, others, such as memory and
intelligence can not be localized and seem to be controlles by the cerebral hemispheres
generally/

The cerebellum controls certain subconscious activities, especially coordinate

The brain stem contains nerve centres that control automatic functions such as heart
beat and breathing. Itt merges into the top of the spinal cord and rthus links the brain to the
rest of the body. The nerves that connect the brain to the head are called cranial nerves. There
are 12 parts of cranial nerves. They are as follows:

1st – olfactory (responsible for smell)

2nd – optic (responsible for sight)

3rd – oculomotor (eyeball movment)

4th – trochlear (rotates eyeball downward and upward)

5th – trigeminal (skin of face, scalp, teeth and mastication)

6th – abducent (rotates eyeball laterally)

7th – facial (responsible for facial expressions)

8th – vestibulocohlear (responsible for hearing and balance)

9th – glossopharyngeal (responsible for tongue and pharynxs)

10th – vagus (innervations of neck, thorax and abdominal organs)

11th – accessory (responsible for neck movments)

12th – hypoglossal (responsible for tongue movment)

The spinal cord is located in the vertebral canal of the vertebral column. The nerves whish run
from the spinal cord to all parts of the body but the head are named after the region of the
spinal colum from which they branch: cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacrococcygea. Acordnig to
the function they perform nerves can be motor, sensory and sensomotory. Motor nerves are
responsible for carrying nerve impulses whish produce contraction or relaxsation of the
muscules. The oculomotor, trochlear and abducent nerves are examples of motor nerves.
Sensory nerves such as the optic, auditory and olfactory nerves, carry sensations such as sight,
hearing and smell to the corresponding nerve centres in the brain. Sesnomotory nerves carry
combined nerve impulses (sensations and muscule movments) to the brain. The facial,
glossopharyngeal, trigeminal and vagus nerves are examples of such nerves.

The nerves which control the work of the smooth muscles as well as the work of the
heart and blood vessels are not under conscious control of the CNS. The make up a network of
nerves known as the autonomic nervous system. It contains two kinds of nerves: sympathetic
and parasympathetic nerves. Their functions are counterpoised. The sympathetic nerves speed
up the work of the heart and provoke spasms of the blood vessels thus incrasing the blodd
pressure whereas the parasympathetic nerves, the most important of which is the vagus, slow
down the work of the heart thus decreasing the blood pressure and regulate the work of the
digestive glands. In addition, the vagus provokes hypersecretion of the abdominal juices ands
spasam of the pylorus. Disbalance of these two counterpoised autonomic nervous systems
leads to disordes of some organs. These disorders are known as pshychosomatic diseases, such
as stomach ulcer. Therefore now it is considered that the autonomic nervous system is under a
certain influence of the cerebral cortex though the manner of their connection is not known
yet. Four major blood vessels supply the brain with blood to provide it with essential nutrients
and oxygen. They are the two interior carotid arteries (left and right) lateral to the neck organs
and the two vertebral arteries that run up protective bony canals in the neck section of the
spine. At the bottom of the head they form a circle from which other arteries- the anterior
cerebral, the middle cerebral and the posterior cerebral run to other parts of the brain. Areas
depending on a terminal branch are especially vulnerable to disturbances in the flow of blood.