Nervous system is collection of cells, tissues

and organs. It acts like a telephone system. It can be divided into two groups.
Central nervous system(CNS) acts as the

command center of the body. It interprets incoming sensory information, then sends out instructions on how the body should react. It consist of two major parts the brain and the spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous system a part of nervous

system outside of the CNS , it consists mainly of nerves that extend from the brain and spinal cord to the areas in the rest of the body. It divided into two system.

 SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM controls the voluntary

movements of skeletal muscles.

 AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM controls activities in

the body that are involuntary or automatic. These include the actions of the heart, glands and digestive system and associated parts of the body. And it can be divided into two subdivisions namely PNS and SNS, these two works against each other.

 Parasympathetic Nervous system regulates

involuntary activities that keep the body running smoothly under normal in everyday situations.

Sympathetic

nervous system controls involuntary activities that help the body respond to stressful situations.

Neurons, the building blocks of the nervous system

 Neurons basic unit of nervous system, a specialized

cells capable of receiving a stimulus ( nerve or electric impulse), transmitting throughout their length and their delivering that stimulus to other cells next to them. word "neuron" comes straight from the Greek meaning "a sinew, tendon, thong, string, or wire."

 The

 Cell body is a ball shaped, about 0.001 inch ( 0.002

cm) in diameter. It is most of the same structure found in typical body cell, such as nucleus ( the part of the cell that controls its activities).
 Dendrites ( comes from the Greek word Dendron,

meaning tree). - A no. of short branches projecting from the cell body or soma, which receive neural impulses from adjacent neurons.

Structures of Neurons

 Axons is a slender

tube that extends from the soma and transmits messages to the other neurons ( to muscles and glands ).
 Synaptic terminals a divisions of axons into a no. of tiny

branches that ends in small swelling .

 Synaptic gap a slight

gap between the terminal button and the cell body or dendrites of the receiving neurons .

 Myelin sheath tube like covering. It serves as the same

kind of functions as the wrapping on a telephone line. It protects the axon and prevent electrical impulses traveling through it becoming lost.  Oligodendrocyte cell produces the myelin sheath around the axons of neurons in the central nervous system.  Node of Ranvier small area between Schwann cells on a axons that is uncovered.

 Axon Hillock - tapering region between a neuron's

cell body and its axon. This region is responsible for summating the graded inputs from the dendrites and producing action potentials if the threshold is exceeded.
action potentials - an electro chemical impulse that

travels from the cell down to the end of the axon.

 Axon terminals - are distal terminations of the branches

of an axon. An axon nerve fiber is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts electrical impulses (called "action potentials") away from the neuron's cell body, or soma, in order to transmit those impulses to other neurons.

 Sensory neurons composed of different types of

nerves cells and carry impulses or sensations from receptors to the brain or spinal cord.


Nerve receptors are the nerve cells that receive information's about environment. It located in the skin, skeletal muscles joins an internal organs which detect changes both outside and inside the body.

 Motor neurons - works in opposite directions and carry

impulses from the brain or spinal cord to muscles and glands causing muscles to contract and glands to secrete.

 interneuron - receive the signals from the sensory

neurons and send impulses to other interneuron or motor neurons. It is only found in the brain, eyes, and spinal cord.
o Nerve -

a bundle of axons in the peripheral nervous system. o Nucleus ( nuclei) - a group of cell bodies of neurons. o Ganglion ( ganglia) a group of neuronal cell body found outside the brain and spinal cord. o Glial cell - a Greek word glia meaning glue, a large number of non-neuronal cells that interspersed among-and often surround neurons and hold the neurons in place.

 Synaptic transmission  Synaptic transmission is the process whereby one

neuron (nerve cell) communicates with other neurons or effectors , such as a muscle cell, at a synapse. A typical neuron has a cell body (soma), branching processes specialized to receive incoming signals (dendrites), and a single process (axon) that carries electrical signals away from the neuron toward other neurons or effectors.

 Synapses  Synapses

are junctional complexes between presynaptic membranes (synaptic knobs) and postsynaptic membranes (receptor surfaces of recipient neurons or effectors). The prefixes "pre-" and "post-" reflect the direction of synaptic transmission: presynaptic is the transmitting side (synaptic knob) and postsynaptic is the receiving side (dendrite, soma, or effector). Synaptic knobs contain many membrane-bounded synaptic vesicles , 40 to 100 nanometers in diameter.
y Synaptic vesicles are small spherical structure that

contain neurotransmitters. When they are stimulated, they discharge the neurotransmitter into synapse. Synaptic vesicles contain the neurotransmitter. Synaptic knobs also contain mitochondria , microtubules, and other organelles.

 Synapses are named according to their location on the

postsynaptic neuron: Axospinous synapses are synapses on dendritic spines (tiny projections on the dendrites), axodendritic synapses are on shafts of dendrites, axosomatic synapses are on the soma of neurons, and axoaxonal synapses are synapses on other synaptic knobs. Synapses on skeletal muscle cells are neuromuscular junctions.