Nervous System

 Nervous system (brain, spinal cord and nerves) controls and coordinates various body functions. It sends signals and receives
response every organ of the body.

Neuron – the functional unit of the nervous system. It is the basic structural unit of the nervous system.

.Structural Classification of Neurons

Types of Neurons
1. Sensory Neurons – carry signals to the brain or spinal cord. It transmits impulses from sensory receptors towards the central
nervous system. It mostly unipolar.
2. Motor Neurons – carry signals from the brain or spinal cord to the muscles and glands. The impulses move from the central
nervous system to the rest of the body. It mostly multipolar.
3. Interneurons/ Associative neurons – link sensory and motor neuron. The impulses move between sensory and motor neurons.
It mostly multipolar. It acts as bridges between sensory and motor systems.

Parts of the Neurons

Axon Terminal
 Nucleus – the substructure within a cell body that contains the
cell’s DNA
 Dendrites – receives messages from the other neuron cell
 Cell body – the neuron’s life support which contains the nucleus and many organelles
 Cell membrane – the semipermeable membrane surrounding the cytoplasm of a cell
nucleus
 Axon – long cable which transmits electrical impulses from the cell body out to the
neurons. It is responsible for carrying signals to other neurons.
 Myelin Sheath – the protective layer of fatty tissues. The fatty insulating material covering some axons that boost the speed
and efficiency of electrical signaling.
 Axon Terminal – the swelling of the top of an axon collateral specialized for the release of neurotransmitter substance
 Node of Ranvier (RAHN-vee-ay) – the uncovered section of axon membrane between two adjacent segments of myelin
 Synapse – a junction between two nerve cells

Two Main Division of Nervous System

1. Central Nervous System (CNS) – the main control center. It processes the information it receives (or incoming signals)
from the sensory nerves and sends out responding actions (or outgoing signals). It consists of the brain and spinal cord.

Two Major Structure of the CNS

 Brain – the control center of the human body, encased in the skull, and protected by the cranium
 Spinal Cord – a nerve tissue that is protected by the vertebral column. It connects the brain to the nerves from all
over the body. It also controls involuntary movements called reflexes.
The Three Major Regions of the Brain
1. Midbrain – relays information from the sense organs. It is responsible for eye reflexes (such as movement of the eyes and
size of the pupils and regulates sleep.
2. Hindbrain – has the pons, medulla oblongata and cerebellum.
 Pons – connects the two hemispheres of the cerebellum and cerebrum. It is a structure that lies above the medulla;
sleep/walking cycles.
 Medulla Oblongata – is the enlarged part of the spinal cord. It controls breathing, swallowing, digestion, and action
of the heart and blood vessels. Vital bodily functions such as the beating of the heart and blood circulation.
 Cerebellum – responsible for the coordination of voluntary muscle movements and maintains body balance.
3. Forebrain – has the thalamus, hypothalamus and cerebrum
 Thalamus – processes and sorting the signals received from the sense organs before relaying them to the cerebrum.
 Hypothalamus – controls body temperature, thirst, hunger, salt and water balance, sexual and stress responses; and
emotional behavior. It controls the production of various hormones.

Limbic System – group of structures that surrounds the thalamus which

consists of the hypothalamus, and the hippocampus and amygdala.

Hippocampus – plays a crucial role in memory

Amygdala – controls of emotions, appetitive, sexual, and aggressive

behavior.

 Cerebrum or cerebral hemisphere – the largest portion of the brain. It controls the sensory functions and is also
responsible for intelligence, personality and understanding of language. It is divided into left and right hemisphere.
Each hemisphere is divided into four lobes.

The Four Lobes of the Cerebrum

[Link] lobe – location of the primary motor area responsible for reasoning,
higher order cognition, movement and language.
2. Temporal lobe – location of the primary auditory area in charge of hearing
processing of auditory stimuli; responsible for interpreting sounds and language.
3. Parietal lobe – contains the somatosensory area which processes sensory
signals such as touch, pressure, pain, thermal sense and sense of body
movements.
4. Occipital lobe – contains the primary visual area which receives visual signals
from the thalamus and processes visual sensations.
2. Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) - is the other components of the nervous system. It carries signals within the central nervous
system. It consists of 12 pairs of motors and sensory cranial nerves from the brain and 31 pairs of motor and sensory nerves from the
spinal cord. There are also peripheral nerves which can be found outside the brain and the spinal cord.

Two Divisions of PNS

 Somatic Nervous System – connects the CNS to the voluntary muscles. It consists of the cranial nerves and spinal
nerves and innervates peripheral structures such as skin and muscles and the visceral organs.
 Autonomic Nervous System – connects the central nervous system to the glands, smooth muscles of different
internal organs, and cardiac muscles.

Two Subdivision of Autonomic Nervous System

 Sympathetic Division – considered as the “fight-or- flight” system and activates under stressful
situations. It functions when you are stressed, anxious or afraid of something.
 Parasympathetic – is considered as the “rest-and-digest” system and takes over when the
stressful situation has passed. It has the opposite function of the Sympathetic Division. It returns
the body functions to normal and maintains them at that level.

The Endocrine System

-produces hormones and secretes them into the blood without using ducts. It secretes chemicals that act as messengers all
over the body. The main organs of endocrine system are the different glands that secrete hormones or chemicals with specific actions.

Two Kinds of Glands

1. Exocrine glands - go through a duct or passageway to the place where the secretions will take effect. One example of
an exocrine gland is the salivary gland.
2. Endocrine glands – secrete their products into the bloodstream. Their products are ones you call hormones. There is a
specific gland for a specific hormone. A hormone works only on the gland, tissue and organ that it targets.
Glands and Organs of the Endocrine System

1. Hypothalamus – part of the brain that controls hormone production by releasing different chemicals to the pituitary glands.
2. Pituitary gland – “master gland of all gland” ; likely the most important gland in the body, it is crucial to growth, mental
development and reproduction; influences or controls the rest of the endocrine system.
3. Pineal gland - connects the endocrine system with the nervous system; produces several important hormones, including
melatonin, important to sleep/wake cycles and sexual development.
4. Thyroid gland - located in the front of the neck, it releases hormones that control metabolism and govern the way body uses
energy.
5. Parathyroid gland – located behind the thyroid gland; essential for proper bone development.
6. Thymus- crucial to normal immune function in childhood; once a child reaches puberty, its tissue is replaced by fat.
7. Adrenal glands – influence the way the body uses energy, they also elease a hormone called adrenaline when the individual
is under stress.
8. Pancreas – releases insulin to metabolize sugar; problems with the pancreas can lead to diabetes.
9. Ovaries – produces estrogen and progesterone in women, and also releases egg cells
10. Testes – produce the hormone testosterone; in men, testosterone maintains sperm production and bone mass.
The Neuroendocrine System
 regulates the male and the female reproductive systems
 a single system that consists of the nervous system and endocrine system, these two are the main control
systems of the body. They can stimulate and inhibit the activities of
other body systems to help maintain the body homeostasis (a relatively
stable state of equilibrium).
 involves the hypothalamus, anterior
pituitary gland, ovary, and testes. The hypothalamus sends a
command, in a form of hormones, to other parts of the brain and other
glands in the body through nerve connections called synapse.
Together with the hormones, these nerve transmissions are the way the
hypothalamus creates a chain of command the controls the activity of
the endocrine system.

Feedback Mechanism to Maintain Homeostasis

Homeostasis – is a process by which all living things maintain relatively stable internal invironment
Feedback – is a system of self-regulation by which its mechanism detects the amount of hormones present in the blood
circulation. After receiving the feedback from the nervous system, an endocrine gland adjust the amount of a particular
hormone being released.
 Positive feedback – if the feedback brings more hormone output
 Negative feedback – inhibits the production of more hormones. Most homeostatic control in the body is maintained
through negative feedback. The negative feedback mechanism monitors and adjusts one’s hormone levels for
optimum body functions.