2.

Introduction to anatomical and functional

organization of nervous systems

Anatomical and functional

organization of the human
nervous system

Anatomical structures through which a sensory

information is transferred and processed before
being converted in a motor act
 NERVOUS SYSTEM OF VERTEBRATES
common scheme of structural and functional organization

Redundancy:
great number of each
type of different neurons

Sensory nerves (made of

axons of sensory
neurons) are afferent
nerves, i.e. conduct
information from the
periphery to the brain

Motor nerves (made of

axons of motoneurons)
are efferent nerves, i.e.
conduct information from
the brain to the periphery

Mixed nerves are made of

axons of both sensory
neurons and motoneurons
 CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS) (major divisions)
Lateral view
Medial view
Cerebral cortex
Strutture
subcorticali Cerebral cortex

brainstem cerebellum
diencephalon

Spinal cord midbrain

pons
medulla brainstem
cerebellum

Spinal cord
Rostral-caudal and dorsal-ventral axes The CNS is described
along three major axes
(longest axis)

B Medial-lateral axis
2. Introduction to anatomical and functional
organization of nervous systems

Anatomical and functional

organization of the human
nervous system

Anatomical structures through which a sensory

information is transferred and processed before
being converted in a motor act
Somatosensory system:
Discriminative touch (mechanoreceptors)
Proprioception (mechanoreceptors)
Nociception (different types of receptors)
Thermoception (hot and cold receptors)
Touch provides information about the
properties of objects (shape, texture);
Proprioception provides information
about the static position of fingers
and limbs

Somatosensory receptors:
neurons of the dorsal root
ganglions (DRG) of the spinal
cord;
60-120 um diametro

Cell body

Axon

Peripheral
branch Central branch

The nerve endings of the peripheral branches of the axons of DRG neurons involved in
touch are distributed over the entire body surface and contain the mechanical
deformation-activated ion channels that open in response to touch.
The central branches transfer the somatosensory information to the spinal cord
Spinal cord

Each segment of the spinal cord receives somatosensory

information from the periphery via the dorsal root, which is
made of the central axonal branches of the sensory neurons
whose soma is in the dorsal root ganglion, which is located
next to the spinal cord (within the vertebral column).
The central axons of DRG neurons enter into the spinal cord
where they branch: some collaterals make synapses with
neurons in the gray matter; other collaterals ascend towards
the medulla
White matter: bundles of myelinic axons
subdivided in columns
Dorsal columns: only ascending axons. .
Lateral and medial columns: both
ascending and descending axons
 Spinal cord Sympathetic chain

Sympathetic ganglion

Spinal nerve

vertebra

Spinal processes The axons of motoneurons whose soma is in the ventral

horn exit from the spinal cord via the ventral root

31 pairs of spinal nerves:

the cervical spinal nerves are involved in sensory and motor functions of the posterior part of
the head, the neck and the upper limbs;
the thoracic nerves innervate the upper part of the trunk;
The lumbar and sacral nerves innervate the lower part of the trunk, the back and the lower
limbs
 DRG sensory neurons may directly or indirectly activate motoneurons located in the
ventral horn of the spinal cord resulting in reflkex actions

motoneurons

Monosynaptic
reflex arc

Polysynaptic
reflex arc
Dendrites of motoneurons extend radially up to 20
times the soma size (>= 1 mm) covering an area of 2-
3 mm diameter.

They receive synaptic inputs from sensory neurons,

other motoneurons and from excitatory and inhibitory
interneurons that receive inputs from descending
axons of brain neurons, which control and coordinate
movement (only 5% of synaptic inputs is on soma).
 Spinal cord of a mouse embrio

One sensory neuron Each motoneuron

can contact up to 500- receives input from
1000 motoneurons many sensory
making 2-6 synaptic neurons (>100 to
contacts per reach spike
motoneuron threshold).
 Stretching of the quadriceps
activates several hundreds of
sensory neurons each making
Every behaviour is mediated by direct contact with 45-50
specific sets of interconnected motoneurons: Conversely, a
single motoneuron in the knee-
neurons. jerk circuit receives 200 to 450
synaptic inputs from about 100
sensory cells
Many reflex actions, (eg stretch
reflex, pain reflex, knee-jerk
reflex) are mediated by simple
spinal cord monosynaptic and
polysynaptic reflex arcs.
These simple sterotyped
behavious do not involve brain
circuits.

Neural circuits of spinal

cord produce the
movements of locomotion
To produce a behaviour, eg a
stretch reflex, each
participating sensory and
motorneuron must generate 4
different signals in sequence,
each at different sites within
the neuron