Central Nervous System

As we all know, the nervous system is classified into two types: the central nervous
system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system,
which is made up of nerves outside or other than the central nervous system. The central
nervous system acts as a control center or the generator which produces the reaction
(conscious or unconscious) that an organism gives when a certain stimulus comes up by
integrating sensory information from the peripheral nervous system.
In the central nervous system, the brain acts as the commander who gives orders
to other parts of the body and the one who sorts all of that sensory information in your
body as well as your ability to think, remember and memorize. While the spinal cord
acts as the one that conducts a two-way signal between the brain and the organism body,
and sometimes it generates muscle reflexes and other activities that don't need the help
of the brain. Now you know that the CNS is the most important system in our life, that’s
why skin and bones are protecting them because they are made up of fragile jelly filled
with nervous tissues which are not durable at all.
The brain has certain layers of protection which are the skin, bone, meninges
(dura mater, pia mater, and arachnoid) as well as a cerebrospinal fluid which can “float”
and reduce the weight of the organism’s brain so that it won’t be damaged when the
organism moves. But if you’re unlucky enough, your brain can still be damaged. Its
damages can be incredibly specific because the brain is divided into specialized regions
that produce a given action. But before we jump to the parts of the brain, we must know
the development of the brain when an organism is born.
In an embryo phase, the brain starts with a small neural tube then the tube will
stretch out its caudal/lower end, creating its spinal cord while the cranial end begins to
expand divide, and enlarge into three primary brain vesicles or interconnected chambers
which are prosencephalon (forebrain), mesencephalon(midbrain),
rhombencephalon)(hindbrain). By its fifth week of development, the brain vesicles will
be divided into 5 components which are the endbrain, interbrain, afterbrain, spinal
brain, and the midbrain that will form the roots of our brain structures.
 These five secondary vesicles will start to develop into major adult brain regions
such as the brain stem, the cerebellum, the diencephalon which is also known as the
interbrain, and the cerebral hemispheres, but this isn’t the end because when the brain
develops, some parts grow less than others which are the mesencephalon,
metencephalon, and myelencephalon which are the ones that form the cerebellum to
conduct muscular activities and the brainstem which has a vital role as a connector to
relay information from the body and the higher regions of the brain.
In the brainstem, there are 3 parts which are the midbrain, pons, and the medulla
oblongata. The brain stem regulates basic vital involuntary functions like sleeping and
heart activities. Also, each part has its function, the midbrain usually regulates
higher-level functions which are mostly reflexes on a fast stimulus. But when an
organism reacts without thinking, the midbrain will also pass that data to regions like
the cerebral cortex which will process the logical mind about the stimuli.
Besides that, there’s also the diencephalon which is divided into the thalamus,
hypothalamus, epithalamus. and the mammillary bodies which regulate things like
homeostasis alertness and reproductive activities. There is also a limbic system or we
call the reptilian brain, which is a center for generating emotions like fear. On the other
hand, the telencephalon undergoes the biggest growth as it develops into the cerebral
hemispheres or we call it the cerebrum which is the largest region of the brain and
performs the highest functions.
The cerebrum consists of an outer layer of grey matter called the cerebral cortex
and the inner layer is made up of white matter beneath it and it controls our voluntary
movements and our high-level abilities like thinking and learning and regulating and
recognizing emotion in our daily lives. But the main concern is what happens if the
brain keeps expanding to an extent where our skull couldn’t handle it? Will we die or
will it snap our neck? No need to worry, your body has got it all for you. To put all of
those brain parts in your skull, the brain forms a small groove called gyri and larger
grooves or sulci. Besides a big fissure that separates the left and right hemispheres, the
two halves communicate through a bundle of myelinated axon fibers which is the
corpus callosum.
 Also, each hemisphere is divided again into parts with different sets of major
functions like the frontal lobe for example governs muscle control and cognitive
functions, like making plannings, goals, the ability to concentrate, and differentiating
social norms and behaviors. The Broca’s area is also important in language
comprehension in speech. Occipital lobe for generating visual images that you see. The
parietal lobe generates sensations of touch, pain, and pressure.
Lastly, the temporal lobe generates auditory information including language. It
also contains something called Wernicke's area which is related to the understanding of
written and spoken language. In the temporal lobe, there is also the hippocampus which
acts as the short-term memory keeper, and the emotional amygdala which controls
sexual and social behavior. All in all, the brain is such an important organ in the human
body, and we wouldn’t live without it but the human body also needs the PNS
(peripheral nervous system) to conduct its reaction as well. So everything must be in
one cycle, nothing less and nothing more.