CHAPTER - 6 Control and Coordination

HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEM

Central nervous system (Brain & spinal cord)
Peripheral nervous system

Peripheral Nervous System

Reflex Action:
It is quick, sudden and immediate response of the
body to a stimulus.
Example - Knee jerk, withdrawal of hand on touching
an object

Three types of Nerves:

Spinal nerves come from the spinal cord and spread throughout the body, except for the
head.

Cranial nerves come from the brain and spread throughout the head. Both carry sensory and
motor neurons.

Visceral nerves come from the spinal cord and connect to internal organs, also carrying
sensory and motor neurons.

Stimuli
The factors which bring response or change in the environment.
Example : Light, Heat, Cold, Sound, Smell, Touch etc.

Receptor
A cell (or a group of cells) in a sense organ that is sensitive to a particular type of stimulus.
1. Ear
It acts as a phono-receptor
It helps in hearing and maintaining the balance of the body.
2. Eyes
It acts as a photoreceptor
It helps in seeing.
3. Nose
It acts as an olfactory receptor helping in the detection of smell.
4. Tongue
It acts as a Gustatory receptor helping in the detection of taste.
5. Skin
It acts as a thermoreceptors helping in feeling heat or cold and touch.

Effector
An effector is a part of the body which can respond to a stimulus according to the instructions
sent from the nervous system (spinal cord and brain). Example: Glands and muscles

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Neuron
Neurons are specialized cells that transmit signals throughout the body.
They are the structural and functional unit of the nervous system and the longest cells in
the human body.

Parts of neuron
1. Dendrite - It acquires information and receive impulse from other neurons.
2. Cell body - The information acquired by it travels as an electric impulse
3. Axon - Longest fiber that transmits electrical impulses to the next neuron's
dendrite. Myelin sheath covers some axons, making impulse transmission faster.

Structure of Neuron

Functions of Neuron
Nerve cells receive signals from receptors, triggering a chemical
reaction that creates an electric impulse.
The impulse travels from the dendrite to the cell body and then the
axon, where chemicals are released at the end due to the electrical
impulse.
These chemicals cross the synapse, transferring the signal to the next
neuron.

Nerve impulse
They are wave of electrical and chemical signals carried along
nerves or neurons.
They are initiated at receptor cells as a result of stimuli from the
environment

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Neuromuscular junction
The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is a
synaptic connection between the terminal
end of a motor nerve and a muscle.

Brain
Highest coordinating centre in the body.
The brain is located in the skull and is protected by the cranium.
It is surrounded by three membranes called meninges
It is filled with cerebrospinal fluid, which protects it from mechanical
shocks.

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Three regions of the brain
1. Fore brain
The cerebrum, which is the main thinking part of the brain, controls learning, reasoning,
intelligence, and memory. It Interprets sensations and responds to pain, cold, heat, and
pressure.It receives information from sense organs and sends instructions to muscles for
voluntary actions

2. Midbrain
It is composed of the hypothalamus which is located at the base of the cerebrum, controls
sleep, eating, and drinking urges.

3. Hind brain
It is composed of three parts: Cerebellum, Medulla , and Pons.

Cerebellum- It lies below the cerebrum, controls motor functions, posture & balance, and
voluntary activities.

Medulla- It forms the brain stem, lies at the base of the brain and continues into the spinal
cord. It controls involuntary function like hearing, heart beating, respiration, salivation,
vomiting.

Pons- It lso controls invountary actions and regulate respiration.

Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a cylindrical structure protected by the vertebral column and surrounded by
meninges. It has 31 pairs of nerves and is involved in spinal reflexes and the transmission of
nerve impulses to and from the brain.

Three types of resposes

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1.Voluntary-Controlledbyforebrain.
2. Involuntary - Cntrolledby mind and hind brain.
3. Reflex action - Controlled by spinal cord - withdrawl of hand on touching hot object.

Glands
A gland is a structure that secretes a specific substance (or substances) in the body. A gland is
made up of a group of cells or tissue.

There are two types of glands in the body:

1) Exocrine glands- Secretes its product into a duct (or tube). E.g., the salivary gland secrets
the saliva into a duct called the salivary duct.

2) Endocrine gland- A group of endocrine glands that produces various hormones are called
endocrine glands.
The endocrine glands present in the human body are : Pineal gland; Hypothalamus gland;
Pituitary gland; Thyroid gland; Parathyroid glands; Thymus; Pancreas; Adrenal glands; Testes
(only in males) and Ovaries (only in females)

Pituitary gland
The pituitary gland, just below the brain, secretes hormones including the growth hormone.
This hormone regulates bone and muscle development in the body.
Growth hormone deficiency causes dwarfism, while an excess leads to gigantism.

Thyroid gland
The thyroid gland in the neck produces thyroxine hormone, which regulates the body's
metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
Iodine produces thyroxine hormone. Lack of iodine causes goitre. Seaweed, Fish, shellfish,
Table salts labeled “iodized”, Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), Eggs, Beef liver, Chicken are some
sources of iodine.

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Parathyroid gland
There are four parathyroid glands embedded in the thyroid gland. They secrete
parathormone
hormone to regulate calcium and phosphate levels in the blood.

Thymus gland
The thymus gland, located in the neck and chest, secretes hormone for immune system
development. It's larger in children but shrinks after puberty.

Pancreas
It is a both exocirne and endocrine gland. It is just below the stomach in the body and
secretes the hormone called insulin. The function of insulin hormone is to lower the
blood sugar level (or blood glucose level).
Insulin deficiency causes diabetes with high blood sugar levels and glycosuria. Insulin controls
sugar metabolism.

Adrenal glands
Adrenaline hormone, secreted by two glands on top of the kidneys, regulates heart rate,
breathing rate, blood pressure, and carbohydrate metabolism.Adrenaline is a hormone
that the body produces in response to fear or excitement.
It increases heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, while also releasing glucose into
the bloodstream for quick energy. The adrenal glands are responsible for producing
adrenaline and are sometimes called the "glands of emergency".

Testes
Testes produce testosterone and sperm (male gametes) in males.
The function of testosterone hormone is to control the development of male sex organs
and male features such as deeper voice, moustache, beard, and more body hair (than
females).
All these changes caused by testosterone are associated with male puberty which the
boys attain at an age of 13 to 14 years.

Ovaries
Ovaries are female glands that produce estrogen and progesterone hormones. Estrogen
regulates female reproductive organ development, soft skin, high-pitched voice, and
breast growth.
Female puberty, occurring between 10 to 12 years, is marked by oestrogen-induced
changes, such as breast development, hip widening, and pubic hair growth.
Progesterone controls uterus changes during menstruation and pregnancy
maintenance. The ovaries produce ova or eggs, the female gametes.

Feedback mechanism
Our body has a 'feedback mechanism' that regulates hormone release. When blood
sugar rises, pancreas cells produce more insulin. As blood sugar falls, insulin secretion
reduces automatically.

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Control and Coordination in plants
The plants do not have a nervous system and sense organs like eyes, ears, or nose, etc.,
like the animals, but they can still sense things. The plants coordinate their behaviour
against environmental changes by using hormones

Plant hormones (Phytohormones)

1. Auxins -Promote cell enlargement, and fruit growth, and regulate a plant's response
to light and gravity. They are produced by cells at the tip of stems and roots, and move
away from light and towards gravity. Synthetic auxins are used to enhance plant growth
in agriculture and horticulture.

2. Gibberellins -Promote cell enlargement and differentiation in the presence of auxins.

Gibberellins also break seed and bud dormancy and promote fruit growth by
stimulatingshoot elongation

3. Cytokinins -Plant hormones that promote cell division, break seed and bud
dormancy, delay leaf aging, stimulate stomata opening, and enhance fruit growth.

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4. Abscisic acid (ABA) - A plant hormone that inhibits growth, induces dormancy in
seeds and buds, closes stomata, promotes abscission of leaves, and causes detachmentof
flowers and fruits.

Tropisms (Tropic movements)

Tropism is the growth movement of a plant part in response to an external stimulus. If
the growth is towards the stimulus, it's positive tropism. If it's away from the stimulus,
it's negative tropism.

1. Phototropism
It is the movement of a plant part in response to light.if the plant part moves towardslight, it
is positive phototropism otherwise called negative phototropism.
The stem (or shoot) of a growing plant bends towards the light, so the stem (or shoot) of
a plant shows positive phototropism otherwise negative phototropism.

2. Geotropism
Geotropism is plant movement in response to gravity. Positive geotropism moves
towards gravity and negative geotropism moves against gravity.

3. Chemotropism
Chemotropism is when a plant part moves towards or away from a chemical stimulus.
Movement towards the chemical is positive chemotropism, while movement away is
negative chemotropism. E.g., growth (or movement) of a pollen tube towards the ovule
induced by a sugary substance as stimulus

4. Hydrotropism
The movement of a plant part in response to water is called hydrotropism. If the plant
part moves towards water, it is called positive hydrotropism. If the plant part moves
away from water, then it is called negative hydrotropism.

5. Thigmotropism
The directional growth movement of a plant part in response to the touch of an object is
called thigmotropism. The climbing parts of the plants such as tendrils grow towards any
support that they happen to touch and wind around that support. So, tendrils of plants
are positively thigmotropism.

Nasties (Nastic movements)

The movement of a plant part in response to an external stimulus in which the direction
of response is not determined by the direction of stimulus is called nastic movement.
The folding up of the leaves of a sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) on touching is an
example of nastic movement. Here the stimulus is a touch.
The opening up of the petals of dandelion flowers in morning in bright light and closing
in the evening when the light fades is an example of nastic movement. In this case the
stimulus is light.

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Thigmonasty
The non-directional movement of a plant part in response to the touch of an object is
called thigmonasty.
For example, If we touch the leaves of the touch-me-not plant (chhui-mui). with our
fingers, then its leaves fold up and droop almost immediately.

2. Photonasty
The non-directional movement of a plant part (usually petals of flowers) in response to
light is called photonasty.
Petals open when their inner surfaces grow more than their outer surfaces. On the other
hand, petals close when their outer surfaces grow more than their inner surfaces.