Knowing the main nerves of the body

Knowing the neurotransmitters and the correlation between endocrine and nervous system
• Olfactory Nerve (I)
• The olfactory nerve is responsible for your sense of smell. It sends
information to your brain about smells you encounter.
• When you smell something pleasant, such as bread baking, the
aromatic molecules dissolve at the roof of your nasal cavity, which
stimulates receptors to generate nerve impulses. These nerve signals
are then sent to the areas of your brain that deal with memory and
smell recognition.
• Optic Nerve (II)
• The optic nerve is essential for proper vision, and both of your eyes
have one.
• When light first enters your eye, it comes in contact with receptors in
your retina, called rods, which help you see black and white images
and in the dark, and cones, which are responsible for color
• Oculomotor Nerve (III)
• The word oculomotor is comprised of two parts: oculo, which relates
to the eye, and motor, which can refer to movement or muscles.
• The oculomotor nerve, then, helps control your eyes' muscle
movements. It provides movement for the eyeball and upper eyelid
while also assisting with the eyes' involuntary functions, including
pupil contraction and automatic lens adjustments (this is what happens
when your eyes automatically focus on near or far objects).
• Trochlear Nerve (IV)
• The trochlear nerve is also involved in eye movement. It controls the muscle in the eye that enables it to point
downward and inward.
• Trigeminal Nerve (V)
• The trigeminal nerve is the largest cranial nerve in the human body, and it has both motor and sensory functions.
• Motor Functions
• The trigeminal nerve assists you with chewing and clenching your teeth, and it provides sensation to muscles in
your eardrum.
• Sensory Functions
• The trigeminal nerve's sensory functions are divided into three parts, each of which connect to sensory receptor
sites on the face.
• Ophthalmic: Provides sensation for parts of the eye, nose, eyelid, and forehead
• Maxillary: Gives sensation to the middle third of the face, upper teeth, eyelid, and side of the nose
• Mandibular: Provides sensation to the lower third of the face, tongue, mouth, and lower teeth
• Abducens Nerve (VI)
• The abducens nerve also helps with eye movements, in particular, movements
that involve your gaze moving outward.
• Facial Nerve (VII)
• Like the trigeminal nerve, the facial nerve also has motor and sensory
functions. It controls:
• Movement of muscles that produce facial expression
• Facial gland movement
• Anterior 2/3rd of tongue-Taste
• Sensation in the external ear
• Vestibulocochlear Nerve (VIII)
• The vestibulocochlear nerve actually consists of two nerves in one,
the vestibular nerve and cochlear nerve.
• The vestibular nerve helps your body sense changes in the position of
your head, and your body uses this information to help it maintain its
balance.
• The cochlear nerve helps you with hearing and determines a sound's
frequency and magnitude.
• Glossopharyngeal Nerve (IX)
• As with other cranial nerves, the glossopharyngeal nerve has both
sensory and motor functions.
• Its sensory function receives incoming information from the back of
your mouth, including the tongue, tonsils, and throat. It is also
involved with taste sensation for the back of your tongue. Its motor
functions are also in the throat, as it's what allows the muscles in your
throat to shorten and widen.
• Vagus Nerve (X)
• Sensory Functions: Provides sensation to the outer ear, throat, heart, and
abdominal organs
• Motor Functions: Gives movement to the soft palate and throat
• Parasympathetic Functions: Regulates heart rhythm and supplies nerves
to smooth muscles in your gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and airway
• Doctors often use vagus nerve stimulation therapy to treat conditions
such as epilepsy, depression, and anxiety. The vagus nerve is also the
longest of all the cranial nerves because it begins in the medulla in the
brain and extends all the way to the abdominal area.
• Accessory Nerve (XI)
• This cranial nerve, the accessory nerve, provides motor function to
some of the muscles in the neck. It's what lets you rotate, flex, and
extend your neck and shoulder muscles.
• Hypoglossal Nerve (XII)
• The last of the cranial nerves is the hypoglossal nerve. It provides
necessary motor functions to the tongue muscles.
• Spinal Nerves
• The spinal cord is part of your central nervous system. It begins at the bottom of the brain stem and
continues down to your lower back.
• There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, and they control sensory, motor, and other functions of your
body. They transmit messages between your spinal cord and the rest of the body, including skin,
muscles, and internal organs. Each spinal nerve is responsible for providing sensation to a different
area of your body.
• To help identify them, spinal nerves have alphanumeric figures assigned to them:
• C1-C8: Cervical nerves
• T1-T12: Thoracic nerves
• L1-L5: Lumbar nerves
• S1-S5: Sacral nerves
• One pair of coccygeal nerves
• Functional Control
• Each group of spinal nerves is involved with movements in certain parts of your body, including your hands, fingers, arms,
upper back, hips, and abdominal muscles. Some spinal nerves are even responsible for ensuring you can walk and run properly.
• For more detail on spinal nerves' functional ability, refer to the chart below.
• Automatic Control
• Some nerves in the spinal cord are responsible for controlling automatic body functions, such as your heart rate, breathing, and
other things your body does automatically.
• For example, spinal nerves T1-L5, which are your thoracic and lumbar nerves, are partially responsible for controlling the
functions of your:
• Heart
• Lungs
• Gastrointestinal system
• Kidneys
• Sweat glands
• The upper part of your sacral nerves, from L5-S3, are responsible for controlling bladder and bowel movements.
 Neuro-Endocrine System

 Homeostasis is to maintain the internal environment of the

body constant.

 This homeostasis is maintained by 2 major control systems:

1- Nervous system:

- It is the rapid control system.

- It regulates muscle tone, voluntary movements, respiration, body

temperature.
2- Endocrine system:

- It is the slow control system.

- It Regulates body growth, maturation, reproduction and

behaviour & maintain chemical homeostasis.

 For integration of body responses to the changing

environment, both systems form together a biological

communication network called “Neuro-Endocrine system”

1- Hypothlamic neurosecretory cells

Hypothalamus

Hypothalamo-hypophyseal Hypothalamo-hypophyseal
portal blood vessels tract

Anterior Pituitary Posterior Pituitary

2- Innervation of endocrine glands

Nerve supply to the glands control both: their blood supply &
their secretory activity
3- Effect of hormones on the nervous system

 Many hormones affect the activity of the nervous system:

e.g., thyroid hormone increase the excitability of the nervous
system while cortisol hormone has effects on the mood.
 Hormones either stimulate or inhibit secretory activity of the
hypothalamus.