CMSD 552 Essay Quiz

Acetylcholine

• Involved in voluntary movement of skeletal muscles

• Helps regulate automatic body processes like heart rate and digestion

Dopamine

• Involved in cognition and motivation

• Related to wanting pleasure associated with love and addiction

Norepinephrine

• Important to maintaining attention and focus

• Involved in wakefulness and arousal

• Sympathetic NS (fight, flight, panic)

Serotonin

• Controls mood, regulates sleep

• Involved in pain, body temp, blood pressure, hormonal functioning

• Involved in memory and emotion

GABA

• Loss of GABA linked to Huntington’s chorea

• Associated with the inhibition of motor neurons.

Motor Neurons

Motor neurons receive excitation from other cells and send impulses to the muscles instructing them to contract, and to the endocrine glands to regulate hormonal secretions.

Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that assist in the regulation of the brain’s ability to control:

• Metabolic activity

• Speech/language

• Motivation

• Personality

• Mood states

• Cognition

What surrounds and protects the brain?

The meninges and cerebrospinal fluid

• Pia mater

• Arachnoid membrane

• Dura mater

What is the largest part of the brain?

The cerebral cortex or cerebrum is involved in:

• Complex thought and executive functions

• Learning

• Personality

• Movement

• Touch and vision

Frontal Lobe

Important for:

• Reasoning and judgement

• Planning and initiation of motor movement

• Personality

LH houses Broca’s area (speech production)

Parietal Lobe

Important for:

• Evaluating sensory info: touch, taste, temperature, pressure, pain

Temporal Lobe

Important for:

• Auditory sensation and perception

• Some visual perceptions and categorization skills

LH houses Wernicke’s Area

Occipital Lobe

Important for processing visual information

General importance of the brainstem

• Connects the brain to the spinal cord

• Regulates primary life functions (respiration, swallowing)

• Mediates salivation, gagging

• Houses CN 3-12

Midbrain

• Associated with vision and hearing

• CN nuclei for eye movement and sensation

• Substantia nigra produces dopamine (reward system)

Pons

• Bridge to the cerebellum

• Helps control breathing and sleep

• RAS: alertness and arousal

Medulla

• Extremely important for speech-motor control

• CN nuclei for phonation, articulation, velopharyngeal closure, and swallowing

• RF: arousal and sleep

Cranial Nerves

I) Olfactory

II) Optic

III) Oculomotor

IV) Trochlear

V) Trigeminal

VI) Abducens

VII) Facial

VIII) Vestibulocochlear

IX) Glossopharyngeal

X) Vagus

XI) Accessory

XII) Hypoglossal

Subcortical structures

• Hypothalamus

• Pituitary gland

• Thalamus

• Hippocampus

• Amygdala

Circle of Willis Significance

It allows blood to flow through both hemispheres of the brain and acts as a safety valve if blood flow on one side is blocked.

ACA

Supplies medial surfaces of the frontal and parietal cortex

MCA

Supplies most lateral cortex (temporal and frontal lobes), Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, basal ganglia and internal capsule

PCA

Supplies medial and inferior surfaces of occipital and temporal lobes

Computed Tomography (CT)

• Creates a 3D image from different angles in slices

• Linked to X-rays to detect hemorrhages, lesions, and tumors

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

• Magnetic field shows fine details in brain and spinal cord

• Soft tissues, large blood vessels, tumors, blood clots, ischemic stroke

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Shows use of glucose and oxygen feeding areas of the working brain

Amplified Magnetic Resonance Imaging (aMRI)

Provides 3D imaging of brain tissue pulsations associated with cardiac cycles