A2 Level Biology

Coordination-Lecture 1
By Muhammad Ishaq Khan
Coordination
• Animals and plants consist of millions of cells and different
parts of organism performs different functions which need to
be coordinated. Sometimes blood glucose level or
concentration of various substances are regulated due to
coordination. Withdrawal of a part of organism from a harmful
substance may need to be coordinated. There are
communication systems within animals that coordinate the
activities of receptors and effectors. There are two types of
information systems for coordination of body activities:
1.Nerves that transmit information in the form of electrical
impulses
2.Chemical messengers called hormones that travel in the
blood
Nervous communication
• Mammalian nervous system consists of :
➢Central nervous system (CNS) made up of
brain and spinal cord
➢Peripheral nervous system(PNS) containing
cranial and spinal nerves
• Cranial nerves are attached to the brain
and spinal nerves to the spinal cord.
Information is transferred as nerve
impulses which travel along membranes
of nerve cells at very high speed.
Neurones
• These are nerve cells which carry information directly to the
target cells. Neurones coordinate activities of sensory
receptors (like those in the eyes), decision making centres in
brain or CNS, and effectors like muscles and glands. There are
three type of neurons:
1.Sensory neurons that transmit impulses from receptors to the
CNS
2.Intermediate /relay/connector neurons transmit impulses
from sensory neurons to motor neurons
3.Motor neurons transmit impulses from the CNS to effectors
Neurones
Structure of a mammalian neurone
• A typical motor neurone consists
of following structures to carry out
functions. Cell body of motor
neurone lies within the spinal cord
or brain. The nucleus of a neurone
is always in its cell body. Small
specks seen in cytoplasm show
small regions of rough ER for
synthesis of proteins.
Structure of a mammalian neurone
Structure of a mammalian neurone
• Dendrites are thin cytoplasmic extensions from cell body
which are short mostly having many branches. Motor neurone
has highly branched dendrites to give large surface area for
the endings of other neurons. Its axon is much longer to
conduct impulses over long distances. An axon of a motor
neurone with cell body in spinal cord might extend to your
toes, which is the longest axon.
• Cytoplasm of axon or axoplasm contains some organelles like
mitochondria. The ends of the branches of axon have many
mitochondria and many vesicles containing a chemical called
neurotransmitter. These vesicles are involved in passing
impulses to an effector cell such as muscle or gland.
Sensory neurone
• It also has same basic structure like a motor neurone but it has
one long axon with a cell body that may be near the source of
stimulus or in a swelling of a spinal nerve known as a ganglion.
From the cell body of sensory neurone, a short extension
reaches to CNS, which is called axon. The long axon from
receptors to cell body is now also termed axon but previously
it was called a dendron (now the term is no longer used).
Relay neurons
• Such neurons are entirely located within CNS, brain and spinal
cord. It has many dendrites but no axons or dendrons.