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The Nervous System
The Nervous System
Activities such as the heartbeat, peristalsis, and breathing movements are automatic
and are not controlled consciously. This are called involuntary actions.
Components
• Central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the brain and the spinal cord
• Peripheral nervous system (PNS) consisting of the cranial nerves (from the brain), the
spinal nerves (from the spinal cord and sense organs)
Nervous tissue
Sensory neurons or the receptor
transmit nerve impulses from the sense
organs or receptors to the CNS.
Motor neuron
Parts
• Dendron
- Nerve fibres that transmit nerves
impulses towards the cell body
- The end branches of the dendrons
are called dendrites
- The dendrites receive nerve
Chapter 13 - The nervous system
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impulses from other neurons
• Cell body
• Axon
- Nerve fibres that transmit nerve impulses away from the cell body
• Myelin sheath
- Layer of fatty substances enclosing many nerve fibres
- Insulates the axons
• Neurilemma
• Node of Ranvier
- Allows nerve impulses to jump from node to node, speeding up the transmission
of nerve impulses
• Dendrites of an axon
• Motor end plate
Sensory neuron
Circular cell body with only one long dendron and a short axon.
Synapse
A junction between two neurons or a junction between a neuron and an effector such
as a muscle or a gland.
At a synapse, impulses are transmitted from the axon of one neuron to the dendron of
another neuron across a tiny space.
Nerve impulses are transmitted across the motor end plate by chemicals which
stimulate the muscle.
Nerves
May contain only sensory nerve fibres (which conduct nerve impulses from sense
organs), only motor nerve fibres (which conduct nerve impulses to effectors), or
mixed fibres (both sensory and motor).
The brain has grey matter on the outside enclosing the white matter. The spinal cord
has white matter on the outside enclosing the grey matter.
The spinal cord transmits nerve impulses from the sensory neuron up to the brain and
the brain down to the motor neuron.
In the white matter, nerve impulses travel up and down the spinal cord.
A voluntary action is controlled by the will. It may or may not involve a receptor
neuron.
A reflex arc is the shortest pathway by which the nerve impulses travel from the
receptor to the effector in a reflex action.