Chapter 11

Nervous Tissue
Signaling between cells:
• Nervous system
– Neurotransmitters
– Neurohormones
– Neuromodulators

• Endocrine system
– Neurohormones
– Hormones
 Nervous tissue
• Neurons: use a combination of electrical and
chemical signal transmission.

• Glial cells: supporting cells.

 3 basic functions of the nervous system:
1) Sensory: detect internal or external stimuli.

2) Integration: integrates sensory information,

analyses and stores it, and makes decisions
regarding appropriate responses.

3) Motor output: respond to integration decisions.

Signals to muscle fibers or glandular cells
(effectors) trigger responses to stimuli.
Figure 12.3
 Fundamental Properties of Neurons
• Excitability
– highly responsive to stimuli
• Conductivity
– producing traveling electrical signals
• Secretion
– when an electrical signal reaches the end of nerve fiber,
a neurotransmitter is secreted
Multineuronal pathways are characterized
by alternating electrical and chemical
signals.
-
The electrical signals alternate
between graded potentials and action
potentials.
In most pathways, information flow
is in only one direction.

Behaviors are due to the actions of

multiple neurons acting together.
Organization of the Nervous system:
The nervous system is composed of 2 main divisions:

CNS: the central nervous system

the brain and spinal cord

PNS: the peripheral nervous system

all nervous tissue outside the CNS; consists of:
Somatic nervous system (SNS)
Autonomic nervous system (ANS)
Enteric nervous system (ENS).
Figure 12.1
Figure 12.2
 The peripheral nervous system
• Spinal and cranial nerves: bundles of axon processes,
connective tissue, and blood vessels. Each generally
supplies a particular region of the body.
 
• afferent neurons (sensory neurons): carry information
to the CNS.

• efferent neurons (motor neurons): carry information

from CNS.

• Ganglia: clusters of nerve cell bodies that lie outside

the CNS.
 Somatic division (SNS):
voluntary.
 
• Consists of:

• 1) sensory neurons that carry information from

receptors located mainly in the head, body wall,
and limbs to the CNS.
 
• 2) motor neurons from the CNS that conduct
impulses to skeletal muscles.
 Visceral division (ANS):
• involuntary
 
• Consists of:

• 1) sensory neurons that convey information from

autonomic sensory receptors, located mainly in the
viscera, to the CNS.
 
• 2) motor neurons that conduct impulses to smooth
and cardiac muscle, glands, and adipose tissue.
 The motor portion of the ANS:
 
• The sympathetic division

• The parasympathetic division.

 
• Effectors are generally innervated by both
divisions, which usually have opposing actions.
 ENS: the brain of the gut.
• involuntary.

• about 100 million neurons in enteric plexuses that extend

the entire length of the GI tract.

• Neurons of the ENS control:

– contractions of the GI smooth muscle
– secretions of GI organs – for example acid secretions by the
stomach
– activity of GI endocrine cells.
Figure 12.4b
Figure 12.4c
Figure 12.4d
Figure 12.4a
 Variation in Neuronal Structure
• Multipolar neuron
– many dendrite/one axon

• Bipolar neuron
– one dendrite/one axon

• Unipolar neuron
– long myleninated fiber
bypassing soma
 Six Types of Neuroglial Cells

• Oligodendrocytes form myelin sheaths in CNS

• Astrocytes
• Ependymal cells (form CSF)
• Microglia (macrophages)
• Schwann cells myelinate fibers of PNS
• Satellite cells with uncertain function
Neuroglial Cells
Myelin Sheath Formation
Myelin Sheath Formation
internode
Figure 12.7b
Unmyelinated Axons
Figure 12.8
 Speed of Nerve Signal
• Speed of signal transmission along nerve fibers
– depends on diameter of fiber & presence of myelin
• Speeds
– small, unmyelinated fibers
– small, myelinated fibers
– large, myelinated fibers
• Functions
– slow signals supply the stomach & dilate pupil
– fast signals supply skeletal muscles & transport sensory
signals (vision & balance)
Ion channels exist in 2 basic forms:
• Leakage channels
– always open, and so ions continuously leak down the
electrochemical gradient.

• Gated channels
– open only in response to a specific stimulus.
– give muscle and nerve cells their electrical excitability.
 3 types of gated channels:
• 1) voltage-gated channels open in response to a change in
the membrane potential (voltage across the membrane)

• 2) ligand gated channels open and close in response to a

specific chemical stimulus, such as a neurotransmitter,
hormone, or ion.

• 3) mechanically gated channels open and close in

response to some form of mechanical stimulus, such as
pressure, vibration, or stretch.
Voltage gated channel

Change in

membrane
potential

Binding of

ligand

Ligand gated channel

 Electrical Potentials & Currents
• Neuronal communication is based on mechanisms
for producing electrical potentials & currents.

– electrical potential is due to separation of charges

between different parts of the cell (transient) or across
the membrane

– electrical current is flow of charged particles from one

point to another within the cell or across the membrane
 The equilibrium potential:
• The electrical potential that just balances the
concentration gradient of an ion across the
membrane.
– can be calculated, as long as you know the
concentration on each side of the membrane

– The Nernst equation

 The resting potential
• Inside negative (-30 to –100 mV).
• Maintained by active and passive transport
processes.
– Na/K ATPase creates/maintains concentration gradients
– K leak channels create most of the resting potential
Ionic Basis of Resting Membrane Potential

• Na+ is more concentrated outside of cell (ECF) and

K+ more concentrated inside the cell (ICF)
• In a resting muscle or nerve fiber, the plasma
membrane is 50-100x more permeable to K + than
to Na+.
– K+ is near equilibrium across the membrane. The
calculated equilibrium potential is about -90 mV.

– Na+ is far out of equilibrium. The calculated

equilibrium potential is about +40 mV.

– If the actual potential is -70 mV, K tends to leak out

and Na to leak in
Figure 12.11
Figure 12.12
2 types of electrical signals used by neurons:
• action potentials: allow communication over short or
long distances in the body.
all-or-none
non-decremental: little change in magnitude
along the length of the fiber.
Irreversible: once started, they don’t stop

• graded potentials: used for short distances only.

variable magnitude
may be inhibitory or stimulatory
degrade in a short distance unless they trigger an
action potential.
 Input Zone
Dendrites
and
Cell body

Nucleus

Trigger Zone
Axon hillock
Conducting Zone
Axon (may be from 1mm
to more than 1 m long

Axon

Cell body
Output Zone
Axon
Dendrites
Terminals

Arrows indicate the

direction in which nerve
signals are conveyed.
Graded potentials in a neuron.
 Graded potentials in a neuron.

Portion of
Initial site of
excitable cell
potential change

Loss of charge Loss of charge

–70 –65 –60 –55 –60 –65 –70

Direction of current Direction of current

flow from initial site flow from initial site

* Numbers refer to the local potential in mV at various points along the membrane.
Action potentials occur if
threshold is reached at the
trigger zone
Presynaptic axon Cell body of
terminals postsynaptic neuron
Initiation of the action potential.

Trigger zone
Figure 12.13a
The action potential is non-decremental
Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel

Na + Extracellular Na + Na +
fluid (ECF)

Plasma
membrane

Intracellular Rapid Slow

Inactivation Activation fluid (ICF) opening closing
gate gate triggered triggered
at threshold at threshold

Closed but capable Closed and not capable

Open (activated) of opening (inactivated)
of opening

At resting potential From threshold to peak potential From peak to resting potential
(– 70 mV) (– 50 mV to +30 mV) (+30 mV to – 70 mV)
(a) (b) (c)
Voltage-Gated Potassium Channel

Extracellular
fluid (ECF)

Plasma
membrane

K+ Intracellular
Delayed
fluid (ICF)
opening
K+ triggered
at threshold

Closed Open
At resting potential; delayed From peak potential through
opening triggered at threshold; after hyperpolarization
remains closed to peak potential (+30 mV to – 80 mV)
(– 70 mV to +30 mV)
(d) (e)
Figure 12.15
Impulse Conduction in Unmyelinated Fibers
Node of Ranvier Schwann cell
Saltatory Conduction of Myelinated Fiber

• Notice how the action potentials jump from node

of Ranvier to node of Ranvier.
 Synapses:
• Structures at which information is transmitted
from a neuron to a target cell.

• Electrical synapses: connected by gap junctions;

relatively rare.

• Chemical synapses: connected by chemical

messages released into synaptic clefts.

• Combined electrical and chemical synapses: rare.

 Neurotransmitters

Indolamines
Excitatory
cholinergic
synapse
 Excitatory
adrenergic synapse
 Inhibitory GABA-ergic synapse
• GABA opens ligand-gated Cl- channels, Cl- enters
cell inhibiting depolarization.
Cessation & Modification of the Signal
• Mechanisms to turn off stimulation
– diffusion of neurotransmitter away from synapse

– Reuptake: synaptic knob reabsorbs amino acids and

monoamines by endocytosis & breaks them down with
monoamine oxidase

– Degradation: acetylcholinesterase degrades ACh in the

synaptic cleft
• choline reabsorbed & recycled
Post-synaptic
potentials
 Summation of EPSPs and IPSPs

Trigger zone
Figure 12.25
Figure 12.26
Presynaptic inhibition
 Neural Coding
• Qualitative information (salty or sweet) depends
upon which neurons are fired (labeled line code)

More rapid
firing frequency

• Quantitative information depends on:

– stronger stimuli excite more neurons (recruitment)
– stronger stimuli causes a more rapid firing rate
• CNS judges stimulus strength from firing frequency of
sensory neurons and number of axons firing
Figure 12.18
 Neuronal Pools
• A neuronal pool is a group of interneurons that
control a specific body function
– control rhythm of breathing
A neural pool
 Synaptic plasticity
• The nervous system changes with experience.

– Learning
– Learned patterns of activation of motor units to carry
out tasks
– memory
 Memory & Synaptic Plasticity
• Memories are not stored in individual cells
• Physical basis of memory is a pathway of cells
– called a memory trace or engram
– new synapses or existing synapses have been modified
to make transmission easier (synaptic potentiation)
 Types of memory
• Immediate Memory:
– Ability to hold something in your thoughts for just a
few seconds
– Feel for the flow of events (sense of the present)
• Short-Term Memory:
– Lasts from a few seconds to several hours
– quickly forgotten if distracted with something new
• Long-Term Memory:
– Formation of new neural connections; Physical
remodeling of synapses with new branching of axons or
dendrites
Brain changes during development:
• Many connections are formed early.
• Unused ones are disconnected.
• Used ones are reinforced.
– Appears to depend on signals sent from the
postsynaptic neuron to the presynaptic neuron.

– Growth of brain regions

– Formation of new synapses
– A change in the synaptic efficacy.
• Increased released of neurotransmitter.
• Increased response to neurotransmitter.
Figure 12.9