NEUS 609 - Overview of the Nervous System I

CNS

processor of sensory info coming from the periphery through the ganglion

somatic nervous system

part of PNS controlling voluntary motor output on skeletal muscles

autonomic nervou system

part of PNS controlling involuntary motor output, made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic subdivisions

enteric nervous system

part of nervous system related to the guts

Basic steps of neural development

1. formation of neural tube

2. formation of main ventricles

3. formation of secondary ventricles and tissues surrounding them

4. formation of adult brain regions

telencephalon

• cerebral cortex

• corpus callosum

• basal ganglia

• hippocampus

• amygdala

overall handles the higher cognitive functions

rostral-caudal

axis from forehead to tail (and neck to feet in humans)

AKA anterior to posterior axis

dorsal-ventral

axis going from the back to the belly (and from top of skull to the neck in humans)

aka superior to anterior axis

sagittal

cut along the midline to give and anterior-posterior & dorsal to ventral views

transverse

cut horizontally to give an anterior-posterior view FROM ABOVE

coronal

cut vertically across midline to give a dorsal-ventral view

distal

further from origin or central pointp

proximal

closer to origin or central point

afferent

arriving

connections coming into a structure within the nervous system

efferent

exiting

connections emanating from a structure within the nervous system

white matter

made out of mostly myelinated axons

tract

white matter in CNS

nerve

white matter in PNS

gray matter

made out of mostly neuronal cell bodies

nucleus

gray matter in CNS

ganglion

gray matter in PNS

lissencephaly

smooth cortex

gyrus

ridge

sulcus

valley/groove

surface area

folding in brain made to increase the processing ___

• cushion and protect CNS from trauma

• carries waste products

• circulates nutrients and hormones

NAME: ventricular system

STRUCTURES: lateral ventricle, 3rd ventricle, cerebral aqueduct, 4th ventricle, subarachnoid space

FUNCTIONS: ___

cerebrospinal fluid

produced by choroid plexus especially lateral and 3rd ventricle

transferred to venous system in superior sagittal sinus through the arachnoid villi to get rid of waste

excessive amount can lead to dilation of ventricles & excess pressure on the brain

circumventricular organs

regions with permeable capillaries surrounding the third and fourth ventricles allowing communication between blood and brain

chemosensory functions to maintain homeostasis

most of them located around the 3rd ventricle

include: pineal gland, posteriori pituitary gland, area postrema etc.

cerebral cortex

• receives and integrate sensory info

• initiation of voluntary movement

• language production and understanding

• higher order executive functions

corpus callosum

white matter tracts interconnecting the hemispheres

Basal Ganglia

• integration of motor control

• voluntary movement

• habits

• involved in substance use (reward and motivation)

Made out of the caudate (gray matter oval bumping into 3rd ventricle), putamen (gray matter under the caudate, separated from it by a white matter band), and globus pallidus (little gray matter triangle next to putamen)

includes striatum which is basically caudate, putamen, and the nucleus accumbens (NAc) which is made of mostly GABA receptors

frontal lobe

• control movement

• planning

• personality

• judgment

Includes prefrontal cortex (PFC) = attention, working memory, decision making

parietal lobe

somatosensorial (skin, joints)

spatial processing

occipital

vision

Temporal

auditory, memory, language (speech comprehension)

fingers, lips, and tongue

Brian mapped out to have mostly connections to ___, ___, ___.

limbic system

NAME: ___

STRUCTURES: amygdala, hippocampus, cingulate cortex, anterior thalamic nuclei etc.

FUNCTIONS: interconnected structures that control motivation, emotions, learning, and memory

hippocampus

NAME:___

LOCATION: limbic system structure that is part of the telencephalon

FUNCTIONS: learning and memory

Amygdala

NAME: ___

LOCATION: limbic system little bulb-like structure anterior to the hippocampus in ventral part of brain

FUNCTION: role in emotion (especially fear), motivation, emotional memory