BIOS5130 – HUMAN

PHYSIOLOGY AND
DISEASE 2
Week 10 – Central Nervous System
(CNS)

Dr Emma Hargreaves

Slide 1 www.kent.ac.uk Fig. 8.4 From Human Physiology, Silverthorn

 WEEK 10 PART 1 – ORGANIZATION AND ANATOMY OF
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Chapter 9 Silverthorn

• Organization of the nervous system

• Central Nervous System (CNS)
• Protecting the brain and spinal cord
• Bone, meninges, CSF and blood-brain barrier
• Regions of the brain and their functions

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 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM ORGANISATION - RECAP

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 PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
Two major functional divisions
1. Efferent
• Somatic motor: efferent motor neurons that project to the skeletal
muscle of the body wall and limbs and control posture and movement
Neuromuscular control will be covered further

• Autonomic: efferent neurons that innervate the smooth muscle of all

the organs of the body (gut, glands, lungs, kidney, blood vessels etc) and
cardiac muscle of the heart
2. Afferent
Sensory neurons that carry information to the CNS from sensory
receptors in the peripheral organs

Sensory physiology will be covered further

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 AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

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 AUTONOMIC PATHWAY: ANATOMY

• Sympathetic neurons
originate in the thoracic and
lumbar regions of the spinal
cord.

• Parasympathetic neurons
originate in the brain stem or
sacral region of the spinal
cord

• All autonomic pathways

consist of two efferent
neurons in series

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 AUTONOMIC BALANCE
• Relative levels of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity depend on the situation

• Homeostatic control centres in the hypothalamus, pons and medulla influence the activity of
autonomic neurons to control blood pressure, body temperature etc

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 TYPICAL STRUCTURE OF A NEURON

• Synapse – region of contact between two neurons or a neuron and

muscle
• Presynaptic neuron – delivers a signal to the synapse
• Postsynaptic neuron – receives the signal
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 GLIAL CELLS
• Outnumber neurons by 10-50:1
• Communicate with and support neurons in various ways
• Essential for the normal function of the nervous system

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 BACK TO BASICS: MEMBRANE POTENTIAL
All living cells have a membrane potential:
An electrical potential difference across the cell membrane = a difference in electrical charge
between the inside and outside of the cell.

Extracellular Fluid: Intracellular Fluid:

Sodium (Na+) & Chloride Potassium (K+),
(Cl-) Phosphate Ions &
Negatively charged
proteins

The membrane potential at rest (cells not actively signalling) is the

www.kent.ac.uk resting membrane potential.
 GATED CHANNELS CONTROL ION PERMEABILITY OF NEURONAL
MEMBRANE

from Molecular Biology of the

Cell, Alberts et al
Channels may be:
• Voltage-gated: open and close in response to membrane potential
changes. Selective for particular ions.

• Ligand-gated: open and close in response to binding of ligands such as

neurotransmitters to the extracellular side of the channel proteins.

• Mechanically-gated: open and close in response to physical forces such

11 www.kent.ac.uk as vibration, stretch etc.
 NA+/K+ ATPASE:
MAINTAINS IONIC COMPOSITION OF FLUID AROUND CELLS

• Membrane transporter

• Mechanism is primary active

transport: energy for
conformational changes of
the carrier comes directly
from ATP hydrolysis

• Pumps 3 Na+ out of cell and

2 K+ into cell for every ATP
hydrolysed

www.kent.ac.uk From Human Physiology, Silverthorn

 DEFINITIONS
MEMBRANE POTENTIAL

An electrical potential difference across the cell membrane

EQUILIBRIUM POTENTIAL

The potential, for any ion, at which there is no net flux of that ion across the membrane
because the chemical and electrical forces that tend to move the ion exactly balance.
Described mathematically by the Nernst equation.

RESTING MEMBRANE POTENTIAL

Membrane potential of excitable cells (e.g. neurons) at rest. An equilibrium state in which
there is no net flux of any ions across the cell membrane. Resting membrane potential is
similar (but not identical) to the K+ equilibrium potential because at rest cells are much more
permeable to K+ than to other ions.
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 GRADED POTENTIALS
• Size (amplitude) of depolarization or hyperpolarization is directly proportional to the stimulus
strength.
• Usually occur at dendrites and cell body. Potentials lose strength with distance from the site of
initiation due to current leak across non-insulated membrane and resistance from cytoplasm to
current flow.

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 GRADED POTENTIALS: SUBTHRESHOLD AND SUPRATHRESHOLD
• Two signals arriving close together in time may sum to produce a larger response.
• If graded potentials are large enough (suprathreshold) they will initiate an action potential.

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 ACTION POTENTIALS
• All-or-None, occur if stimulus reaches threshold or do not occur if stimulus is subthreshold.
• Strength and duration of stimulus represented by frequency of action potentials
• Usually occur at axon hillock.
• No reduction in strength with distance from site of initiation.
• No summation due to a refractory period.
• Permit rapid signalling over long distances.

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 ACTION POTENTIAL CONDUCTION

Page 17
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 SALTATORY CONDUCTION
• Larger diameter axons conduct signals faster – less resistance to current flow
• Saltatory conduction occurs along myelinated axons
• Conduction is slowed in demyelinating disorders
• Myelinated mammalian axon conducts at 120m/sec, unmyelinated axon at 2m/sec

Normal

Demyelinating disease
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 AXON MYELINATION IN PNS

• Hundreds of Schwann cells may myelinate a single long axon

• An axon may be surrounded by up to 150 layers of myelin membrane
• Nerve impulses are produced at Nodes of Ranvier
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 AXON MYELINATION IN CNS

• In central neurons, each

oligodendrocyte myelinates
portions of several axons

• Otherwise the process is

similar to that in the PNS

from Human Physiology, Fox

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 ELECTRON MICROGRAPH OF MYELINATED AND
UNMYELINATED NEURONS

• Myelin sheaths around axons give the tissue

a white colour

Hence

• White matter = areas of CNS that contain a

high number of myelinated axons

• Grey matter = areas of CNS that contain a

high number of cell bodies, dendrites and
unmyelinated axons

21 www.kent.ac.uk from Human Physiology, Fox

 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM ORGANISATION - CNS

• The brain sits in the bony cranium

• The spinal cord runs down the back
(dorsal side) inside the vertebral
column

• The bones of the cranium and

vertebral column together with
membranes (meninges) and fluid
(cerebrospinal fluid) protect the
nervous tissue.

• Silverthorn: Chapter 8

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From Biology, Campbell and Reece
 THE CNS – AN OVERVIEW

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 PROTECTIVE LAYERS OF CNS
• Bone of cranium (skull) and vertebral column - outermost layer of protection for brain and spinal cord,
respectively
• Meninges: protective membranes between the bone and nervous tissue
• Dura mater (outer, next to bone)
• Arachnoid membrane (middle)
• Pia mater (inner, adheres to surface of
brain and spinal cord)
• Subarachnoid space between arachnoid
membrane and pia mater contains
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
• Meninges and CSF provide physical
protection, cushioning the neural tissue
• CSF also provides chemical protection as
ionic composition carefully regulated

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 FLUID COMPARTMENTS OF THE CNS
Internal volume of cranium ~1.4 litre = 1 litre cells + 0.4 litre fluid
• blood (100-150 ml)
• cerebrospinal fluid: in ventricles and subarachnoid space (250-300 ml)
Extracellular
• interstitial fluid: inside pia mater environment for
neurons

Ventricles: CSF filled cavities

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 CEREBROSPINAL FLUID (CSF)
Cerebrospinal Fluid:
• produced by the choroid plexus
• filtrate of blood that contains no blood cells,
very little protein and different ionic
composition (similar Na+, less K+, Ca2+, HCO-)
• absorbed back into blood by villi on arachnoid
membrane
Choroid plexus:
• lines the ventricles
• consists of transporting epithelia (derived from
ependymal cells) and capillaries
• filters blood, removing cells, most protein and
some other solutes
Sampling of CSF by spinal tap/lumbar puncture
used diagnostically to test for infection

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 THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER PROTECTS THE
BRAIN
• 15% of the total blood pumped by the heart (1 litre per minute) goes to the brain
• Neurons require high levels of oxygen and glucose to make ATP for active transport of ions and transmitters
but
must be protected from toxins and potentially harmful substances such as hormones, neurotransmitters, ions

Blood-brain barrier: functional barrier between blood and brain interstitial fluid
• Present in most regions of the brain
• Absent in a few areas where direct contact with blood is required e.g. hypothalamus to allow for
neurosecretory hormone secretion and vomiting centre of medulla which monitors blood for toxins

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 BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER

• consists of specialized selectively permeable capillaries

• capillary endothelial cells have tight junctions and use membrane transporters to move
nutrients from blood to brain and waste in opposite direction
• astrocyte foot processes surround the capillaries and secrete molecules that induce
tight junction formation

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 CNS AT ITS SIMPLEST
Cerebrum
Lateral view

• The large cerebrum

(“brain”) dominates the
brain, folded in order to fit
inside the cranium

• The cerebellum (“little

brain”) is the second
largest region of the brain

• Below the cerebrum is Cerebellum

the brain stem which leads
to the spinal cord
Spinal cord

Cranial nerves
from Human Physiology, Silverthorn
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 ANATOMY OF THE CNS

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 BRAIN REGIONS
Cerebral cortex
Telencephalon Basal ganglia
Limbic system
Prosencephalon
(Forebrain)
Thalamus
Diencephalon Hypothalamus
Pineal gland

Colliculi
Mesencephalon
Substantia nigra
(Midbrain)
Red nuclei

Cerebellum
Metencephalon
Pons
Rhombencephalon
(Hindbrain)
Myelencephalon Medulla
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THE CEREBRUM – SITE OF HIGHER BRAIN
FUNCTIONS
• Consists of two hemispheres connected by corpus callosum
• Gray matter and white matter

Gray matter:
• Cerebral cortex
• Basal ganglia: control of movement
• Limbic system: link between cognitive functions and emotions
• Amygdala and cingulate gyrus: emotion and memory
• Hippocampus: learning and memory

White matter:
• Found mostly on the interior
• Bundles of fibres connecting the different regions of the brain
Figure 9.10 Silverthorn

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FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF THE CEREBRAL
CORTEX

Figures 9.13 and 9.14 Silverthorn

www.kent.ac.uk Slide 33
 SPINAL CORD

Ascending tracts: sensory information

from spinal cord to brain

Descending tracts: motor information

from brain to spinal cord

• Sensory nerves, with cell bodies in the

dorsal root ganglion, enter the dorsal side
of the spinal cord.

• Motor neurons have cell bodies in the

ventral horn of the spinal cord and their
axons leave the cord in the ventral root.

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SELECTED IMAGING TECHNIQUES

From
Silverthorn

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 LEARNING OUTCOMES
Recap of stage 1 material
• Organisation of the nervous system, cells of the nervous system, action potentials

Myelination
• Read the myelination primer (Moodle book) for more in depth information

Central Nervous System

• Explain how the central nervous system is protected from mechanical and chemical damage (bone,
meninges, CSF, blood-brain barrier)

• Describe the anatomy of the CNS including the gross subdivisions (prosencephalon, mesencephalon etc)
and each individual region

• Know the general function of each region of the brain and of the spinal cord

•Read the information in the Moodle book

Reading: relevant sections of Chapter 9 Human Physiology, Silverthorn
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 QUESTIONS

kent.ac.uk

Slide 37 www.kent.ac.uk