Central Nervous System (CNS)

gray matter

areas of the CNS with many cell bodies of neurons present (little myelinated nerve fibers)

white matter

areas of the CNS with few cell bodies but many myelinated nerve fibers (mostly myelinated axons)

gray

Since the cerebellum and cerebrum outgrow their cores, _______ matter ends up on the outside of both structures.

gray matter

gray or white matter? where cell bodies reside

white matter

gray or white matter? highways that make connections up and down the spinal cord

meninges

membranes that serve to protect

dura mater

outermost meninge, touch, fibrous connective tissue

periosteal and meningeal

What are the two layers of the dura mater? (only in the brain)

epidural space

fat filled space above the dura mater (only in spine)

arachnoid

middle meninge, web-like appearance

subdural space

space between Dura mater and Arachnoid

pia mater

innermost meninge, delicate membrane fused with CNS surface, on surface of brain

subarachnoid space

space between Pia mater and arachnoid

falx cerebri

double membrane that goes down between the 2 hemispheres in the brain

subarachnoid space

What space are there blood vessels?

tentorium cerebelli

structural; between the cerebellum and cerebral hemispheres; looks like a tent, holds brain inside the cranial vault, doesn’t let the cerebellum move up and down

interventricular foramen

What foramen is in between the lateral ventricles?

cerebral aqueduct

What is between the third ventricle and fourth ventricle?

choroid plexus

capillaries covered in ependymal cells

inside the ventricles

Where are the choroid plexuses?

CSF

The choroid plexus filter leakage to create ____.

• CSF is produced by the choroid plexus.

• It goes through the lateral ventricles to the 3rd ventricle via the interventricular foramen.

• Then from the 3rd ventricle to the 4th ventricle via the cerebral aqueduct.

• Some CSF goes from the 4th ventricle to the central canal of the spinal cord.

• Most of it goes to the subarachnoid space via the medial and lateral formamens/apertures.

• It is then absorbed by the dura venous sinuses via the arachnoid villi.

Explain the flow of CSF.

hydrocephalus

Blockage of CSF flow which leads to severe brain and/or head enlargement?

No, the swelling would be fatal in an adult.

In infants, swelling will go down and bones can set back in place. A shunt can be used to fix the problem.

Would an adult survive the swelling in the head of hydocephalus? in infants?

hematoma

leakage of blood from tissues; brain damage due to pressure

brain

Hematoma pushes pressure on the _______.

Prosencephalon (forebrain)

Mesenchephalon (midbrain)

Rhombencephalon (hindbrain)

What are the primary brain vesicles?

brainstem

controls all the things that sustain life (ex. breathing, heart rate)

midbrain, pons, medulla

What three things do the brainstem consist of?

cerebrum, thalamus, hypothalamus

What does the forebrain consist of?

pons, medulla oblongata, cerebellum

What does the hindbrain consist of?

interthalamic adhesion

gray commissure that connects the two sides of the thalamus; intermediate mass of thalamus

hypothalamus

lower section of the thalamus; connects the thalamus to the pituitary gland

pituitary gland

hypophysis cerebri

corpus callosum

white commissure that connects the cerebral hemispheres together

commissure

connection of left to right that can be white or gray

arbo vitae

white matter in the cerebellum

folia

leaves of the arbor vitae

projections

roots of nerves going up and down the brain and down into the cord and back to the brain (ex. sensory and motor info going up and down)

commissures

left to right connections

frontal lobe

lobe responsible for planning, personality, abstract thinking, conscience, decision making

frontal, producing speech

What lobe has Broca’s area? What is the function of Broca’s area?

parietal, body senses (touch proprioception, etc.)

Which lobe contains the somatosensory cortex? What is the purpose of the somatosensory cortex?

occipital lobe

which lobe is responsible for visual assocation, ability to track targets, has the primary visual cortex, colors, tracking

temporal, understanding and processing information that comes in, understanding words

What lobe is Wernicke’s area in? What is the purpose of Wernicke’s area?

temporal lobe

lobe that is responsible for emotional control and short-term memory, hearing and auditory functions

EEG

the printout of an electronic device that uses scalp electrodes to monitor the internal neural activity in the brain cortex

alpha (lower amplitude, higher frequency)

brain wave: awake with eyes closed and relaxed

beta

brain wave: awake with eyes open and alert

theta

brain wave: in between awake and asleep

delta (higher amplitude, lower frequency)

brain wave: asleep

location

EEG’s provide diagnostic information about the _________ of abnormal activity in the brain, such as shown of a paitent undergoing an epileptic seizure.

underlying

EEGs record largely the surface of electrical activity of _________ brain areas.

graded

EEG results are largely due to summated _________ potentials of many neurons.

amplitude

shows how much activity (degree of summation and/or number of neurons)

face, fingertips, lips, hand

In what areas are there a lot of neuronal activity on the body?

Caudate Cuclues, Lentiform Nucleus

cerebral nuclei: What are the two parts of the Corpus Striatum?

Putamen and Globus Pallidus

cerebral nuclei: What are the two parts of the Lentiform Nucleus?

Substantia Nigra

cerebral nuclei: controls stability and motor movements; stops working in Parkinson’s patients

RAS

brainstem nuclei intermingled with bundles of axons

RAS

receives and integrates input from all regions of CNS

RAS

involved in motor function, cardiac and respiratory control, attention, vasomotor control, sleep/wakefulness

RAS

extends along length of brain stem; used in maintaining alertness while awake (ex. when driving in a car, you start to fall asleep because the repetitive stimuli is ignored and the RAS has no inputs to keep it functioning)

RAS

receives inputs from eye, ear, and general sensation to maintain alertness

NREM stage 1-4

decreasing eye and skeletal muscle movement, increased threshold for arousal, increase size but decrease frequency of EEG

REM sleep

EEG frequency increases with less amplitude (alpha like), increase heart rate, respiratory rate, and eye movement, but still in deep sleep, high oxygen consumption in brain; dream sleep

4-5 cycles

How many cycles of NREM/REM sleep do we get each night in an 8 hour night?

90 minutes

Approximately how long is each sleep cycle?

slow wave sleep

What type is thought to be restorative to brain function?

less

Do elderly spend more or less time in REM sleep?

Yes, but they break it into smaller episodes.

Do elderly have about the same total sleep time as adults?

moodiness, depression, exhibit other personality disorders

What are consequences of people consistently deprived of REM?

coma

• a severe loss in mental function due to brain damage

• sustained loss of arousal (even with heavy stimulation)

• behavior response is lost

• no sleep/wake cycles

persistent vegetative state

• sleep/wake cycles are present

• no sign of external awareness

coma

coma or vegetative state: more stimulation = more likely to wake up

coma

brain protecting itself from being damaged further

alpha - still conscious

What waves does a coma show?

limbic system

functional system; responsible for emotion and memory; tied into all the senses

amygdala

aggression center

limbic system

contains the hippocampus, fornix, cingulate gyrus, mammillary body

hippocampus

processing center; of short-term memory

learning

acquisition and utilization of information from past experience

memory

relatively permanent storage of information

declarative memory

retention of conscious experience, facts, etc.; uses Limbic system and cortex (amygdala, hippcampus, and thalamus)

procedural memory

knowledge of how to do something (skills behaviors); uses sensory cortex, basal nuclei, cerebellum (ex. muscle memory, swinging a bat)

noxious

Automatic long term memory is linked to _______ stimuli.

may still exist within the brain.

Even thought long term memories may be unretrievable consciously, some…

forgotten

Short term if __________ if it does not go to long term.

night

Short term processing occurs mostly at _______. (in hippocampus)

1) excitement

2) Rehearsal

3) Association of old and new data

What are the three steps that short term memories take to get to the long term memory?

excitement (in path from short term to long term memory)

a very emotional response to something (ex. painful stimuli like burning hand on the stove, you don’t forget it so you don’t do it another time)

retrieval

being exposed to it again and again (long term to short term)

association of old and new data (short to long term memory)

example of this would be using the mneumonic to remember the cranial nerves and number

spinal cord

receives and generates signals to the body through spinal nerves

dorsal root ganglion

in spinal cord: where sensory neuron cell bodies are located

dorsal root

root in spinal cord that has sensory information coming into the cord

ventral root

root in spinal cord that has motor information leaving the cord

CSF

What is the central canal filled with?

7

How many cervical vertebrae are there?

4: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral

How many segments of the spinal cord are there and what are they?