Nervous System

The nervous system is made up of all the nerve cells in a body. It function to control the body, especially its movement in
the environment. It does this by extracting information from the environment using sensory receptors, sending signals
that encode this information into the central nervous system, processing the information to determine an appropriate
response, and sending output signals to muscles or glands to activate the response.

At the end of this text, the students should:

1. identify the plant hormones that causes plants to react to stimuli;
2. identify the parts and function of the nervous system; and
3. explain how the signals are transmitted and interpreted by the nervous system causing reactions.

Plants
Like animals, plants must also need to respond to external
stimuli. This is important to:
1. avoid predation and abiotic (non-living) stress;
2. maximize photosynthesis;
3. obtain more light, water and minerals;
4. ensure germination in suitable
conditions/pollination;
5. seed set/seed dispersal to ensure propagation of
species.
Plant responses to environmental changes are
coordinated by hormones. Hormones, also referred to
as plant growth regulators, coordinate plant responses to
environmental stimuli. Like animal hormones, plant
hormones are chemical messengers that can be
transported away from their site of manufacture, by active
transport, diffusion and mass flow in the phloem sap or
in xylem vessels, to act at target cells or tissues of the
plant. They bind to receptors on the plasma membrane.
Specific hormones have specific shapes, which can only
bind to specific receptors with complementary shapes
on the membranes of particular cells. This specific
binding makes sure that the complementary shapes on the
membranes of particular cells.
Coordination and Control – Hormones
Since plants are relatively large & complex they also need
to have some way to coordinate and control these
activities
-make sure activities throughout the plant are timed
properly
chemical controls is a common feature of all organisms
single celled organisms secrete chemicals that affect their
environment and each other
eg. repelling BG bacteria toxins
Hormone = chemical produced in one tissue or organ and
has its effect in another tissue or organ; virtually all life
produces hormones to help coordinate and control growth,
reproduction, and development; only animals have a
nervous system as an additional method of coordination
and control
A. Auxins-1st plant hormone discovered by Charles
Darwin and son, 1880
Involved in differentiation of vascular tissue, control
cellular elongation, prevention of abscission, involved in
apical dominance and various tropisms, stimulate the
release of ethylene, enhance fruit development
functions of these Auxins:
1. promotes phototropism, geotropism
2. promotes apical dominance
(=growth of a single main stem or trunk)
3. stimulates fruit development
4. leaf abscission (& fruit drop)
5. promotes adventitious root development
B. Gibberellins
-discovered originally in Japan. A fungus called
Gibberella fujikuroi infected rice plants and caused them
to grow too tall and fall over.
-produced mainly in developing leaves, shoots, roots and
seeds, also found in seeds, young shoots, and roots
1. promotes stem elongation; causes bolting
2. can stimulate seed germination & flowering
C. Cytokinins
1. promote cell division
2. promotes cell differentiation
3. delays senescence & aging
D. Ethylene
-gaseous in form, rapid diffusion, affects surroundings,
1. promotes fruit ripening
as fruit ripens it produces ethylene which accelerates the
process
eg. black spots on bananas are spots of ethylene
production
2. promotes seed germination
3. involved in plant responses to pathogens and wounds
E. Abscissic Acid
[does NOT induce abscission]
1. promotes dormancy in woody stems
2. promotes seed dormancy
3. acts as plant stress hormone
eg. protects cells from drought, freezing, salination

Plant Movements
-while plants are generally unable to move about as
individuals; like all living organisms they are capable of at
least some simple forms of movements:
-growth responses to light and gravity
-opening and closing flowers
Major Plant Hormones:
 -twining stems and tendrils ivy, wind around other plants or solid structures and
-sleep movements gain support.
-some kinds of pollination
-explosive seed dispersal these movements can be
considered very simple kinds of behaviors

three basic causes of movement in plants:

a. tropisms (growth movements)
B. Rapid Leaf Movements
b. rapid leaf movements
eg. sensitive plant, folds leaves and droops in response to
c. cyclic movements
touch, electrical or chemical
stimuli; result of changes in
A. Plant Tropisms
turgor pressure; very rapid
Tropism – a directional growth response in which the
response can spread throughout
direction of the response is determined by the direction of
plant; specialized cells form
the external stimulus. Tropisms may be positive (a growth
pulvinus or hingelike area at
response towards the stimulus) or negative (a growth
base of two leaves or leaflets
response away from the stimulus).
-contains cells “overfull” with water when stimulated by
They include:
touch, electricity or chemicals
1. Phototropism (light) – shoots grow
-increases membrane permeability to K+
towards light – they are positively phototrophic.
-K+ rushes out of cells
-water leaves by osmosis
-decreases turgor; leaf wilts and folds; recovery takes
considerably longer than original response eg. venus
flytrap-captures insects

C. Cyclic Movements
1. Solar Tracking
eg. sunflowers, soybeans, cotton
-somewhat slower but same principle
-many have pulvinus at base of petioles leaves and/or
flowers
2. Geotropism (gravity) – roots grow towards the is a slower but probably similar response for leaves it
pull of gravity. allows maximal exposure to light for photosynthesis
3. 2. Biological Clocks
Chemotropism (chemicals) -some cyclic movements are due to biological clocks
– on a flower, -plants, animals, and microorganisms have biological
pollen tubes grow clocks that approximate a 24 hr cycle (circadian rhythm)
down -circadian rhythms repeat every 20-30 hours; these are
the style, attracted by chemicals, preprogrammed movements not directly due to
towards the ovary where environmental
fertilisation can take place. factors
eg. stomatal cycle- operates independently of light and
darkness
4. Thigmotropism (touch) – eg. “sleep” movements
shoots of climbing plants, such as day – leaves are horizontal
night – they fold up or down

Animals
Nervous systems are found in almost all
multicellular animals, but vary greatly
in complexity. The only multicellular animals that have no
nervous system at all are sponges and microscopic blob-like
organisms called placozoans and mesozoans. The nervous
systems of ctenophores (comb jellies) and cnidarians (e.g.,
anemones, hydras, corals and jellyfishes) consist of a diffuse
nerve net. All other types of animals, with the exception of
echinoderms and a few types of worms, have a nervous system
containing a brain, a central cord (or two cords running in
parallel), and nerves radiating from the brain and central cord.
The size of the nervous system ranges from a few hundred cells in the simplest worms, to on the order of 100 billion
cells in humans.

Human Nervous System

There are many billions of nerve cells, also called neurons, in the nervous system. The brain alone has about 100 billion
neurons in it. Each neuron has a cell body and various extensions. The shorter extensions (called dendrites) act like
antennae: they receive signals from other neurons and pass them on to the cell body. The signals are then passed on via
a long extension (the axon), which can be up to a meter long.

Functions of the Nervous System

• Sensory function. Sensory receptors detect internal
stimuli, such as an increase in blood acidity, and external
stimuli, such as a raindrop landing on your arm. This
sensory information is then carried into the brain and
spinal cord through cranial and spinal nerves.
• Integrative function. The nervous system integrates
sensory information by analyzing and storing some of it
and by making decisions for appropriate responses. An
important integrative function is perception, the
conscious awareness of sensory stimuli. Perception occurs
in the brain.
• Motor function. Once sensory information is
integrated, the nervous system may elicit an appropriate Organization of the Nervous system
motor response by activating effectors (muscles and a. central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain
glands) through cranial and spinal nerves. Stimulation of and spinal cord
the effectors causes muscles to contract and glands to -CNS processes many different kinds of incoming sensory
secrete. Neurons (nerve cells) possess electrical information
-source of thoughts, emotions, and memories
excitability, the ability to respond to a stimulus and
- Most nerve impulses that stimulate muscles to contract
convert it into an action potential. and glands to secrete originate in the CNS.
b. peripheral nervous system (PNS) includes all nervous
The human nervous system is 2 kg (4.5 lb), about 3% of tissue outside the CNS
total body weight, smallest and yet the most complex of -include cranial nerves and their branches, spinal nerves
the 11 body systems. It include the brain, cranial nerves and their branches, ganglia, and sensory receptors
and their branches, the spinal cord, spinal nerves and their -subdivided further into a somatic nervous system (SNS),
branches, ganglia, enteric plexuses, and sensory receptors. an autonomic nervous system (ANS), and an enteric
nervous system (ENS)
a. brain-contains about 100 billion neurons
Twelve pairs (right and left) of cranial nerves, numbered
I through XII, emerge from the base of the brain.
A nerve is a bundle of hundreds to thousands of axons
plus associated connective tissue and blood vessels that
lies outside the brain and spinal cord.
b. spinal cord connects to the brain through the foramen
magnum of the skull and is encircled by the bones of the
vertebral column
-contains about 100 million neurons
-thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves emerge from the spinal
cord, each serving a specific region on the right or left side
of the body
-Ganglia are small masses of nervous tissue, consisting
primarily of neuron cell bodies that are located outside the
brain and spinal cord
-sensory receptor is used to refer to the dendrites of
sensory neurons (described shortly) as well as separate,
specialized cells that monitor changes in the internal or
external environment, such as photoreceptors in the retina
of the eye
Fundamental Types of Neurons 2. Axon diameter. Larger-diameter axons propagate action
potentials faster than smaller ones due to their larger
surface areas.
3. Temperature. Axons propagate action potentials at
lower speeds when cooled.

1. Sensory (afferent) neurons Electrical Signals

1. detect changes in environment called 1. Cells produce electrical signals called action
stimuli potentials
2. transmit information to brain or spinal 2. Transfer of information from one part of body to
cord another
2. Interneurons (association neurons) 3. Electrical properties result from ionic
concentration differences across plasma
1. lie between sensory & motor pathways in
membrane and permeability of membrane
CNS
2. 90% of our neurons are interneurons
3. process, store & retrieve information
3. Motor (efferent) neuron
1. send signals to muscle & gland cells
2. organs that carry out responses called
effectors
Other than the neuron, there are other cells that makes up
the nervous system. These are also called as the neuroglial
cells.

Synapse
1. The site of communication between two neurons,
or a neuron and an effector organ.
2. where neurotransmitters are released from one
synaptic end bulb to another neuron or effector
organ.
a. Nerve impulses reach terminal branches of axons
Neurotransmitters affect the activity of other neurons, b. Vesicles in synaptic knob fuse with presynaptic
muscle fibers and or glands; released from synaptic membrane
vesicles c. Membranes burst, releasing neurotransmitters
Action Potential d. Neurotransmitters diffuse across synaptic cleft
1. Series of permeability changes when a local e. Neurotransmitters attach to neuroreceptors in post-
potential causes depolarization of membrane synaptic membrane
f. Neurotransmitters excite or inhibit neuroreceptors
Factors determining the speed of propagation of an action g. Receptors release the neurotransmitters back into the
potential: synaptic cleft
1. Amount of myelination. As you have just learned, h. Neurotransmitters are inactivated by enzymes and
action potentials propagate more rapidly along myelinated reabsorbed by pre-synaptic membrane
axons than along unmyelinated axons. i. Thus, impulses are carried across the gap chemically
How Does the Nervous System Work?
The basic workings of the nervous system depend a lot on tiny cells called neurons. The brain has billions of them, and
they have many specialized jobs. All neurons, however, relay information to each other through a complex
electrochemical process, making connections that affect the way we think, learn, move, and behave.
 1. A stimulus/information is received by dendrite tip of
sensory nerve cell which sets off an action potential leading
to the formation of electric impulse. Electric impulse travels
from dendrites to sensory neuron cell body.
2. From the sensory cell body, electrical impulse
proceeds to the terminal axons.
3. Electrical impulse cause release of neurotransmitters
at the synaptic junctions between the sensory neurons and
interneurons.
4. Neurotransmitters cross the gap or synapse from the
sensory to interneurons and start similar electrical impulse
in the dendrites of the next neuron (or to the motor
neurons). Signals travel along an alpha motor neuron in the
spinal cord 268 mph (431 km/h); the fastest transmission in
the human body.
5. Finally, electrical impulse pass from the motor
neurons to other cells, i.e. effector organ
Nervous System Worksheet
A. Sequencing Arrange the following in order to depict the transfer of impulses in the neuron cells. Use 1 being
the first and 10 being the last. The first one is done for you.
Stimulation of a Neuron
_____Ca+ causes vesicles to release neurotransmitter.
_____K+ diffuses out of the cell
__1__Stimulus activates neuron at the dendrite sensory receptors.
_____Stimulus changes permeability of neuron.
_____Na+/K+ pump restores resting position of ions.
_____Na+ diffuses into cell
_____Impulse reaches terminal, causing Ca+ to be released.
_____Action potential is created.
_____Neurotransmitter binds to receptors of next neuron.
_____Events and impulse continue to spread across the membrane.

B. Match the parts of a neuron with the correct function.

nodes of ranvier axon terminals axon hillock axon dendrites

synapse myelin soma synaptic cleft

1. ____________________ Contains the nucleus and is the metabolic center of cell

2. ____________________ Slender fibers that conduct impulses toward the soma
3. ____________________ Junction of two neurons
4. ____________________ Space between the axon terminal of one neuron & the dendrites of another neuron
5. ____________________ Long fiber that extends from soma and conducts impulses away from soma
6. ____________________ End branches that contain neurotransmitter storage vesicles
7. ____________________ Gaps found between the myelin sheaths
8. ____________________ Fatty material that protects fibers and speeds up impulse transmission
9. ____________________ Part of the soma that connects to the axon

C. Label the neuron.

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

1. __________________________

D. Match the neuroglia cell with the correct function.

Astrocytes microglia ependymal oligodendrocytes schwann cells satellite cells
1. _____________________ Cells that produce the myelin in the PNS.
2. _____________________ Cells that produce the myelin in the CNS.
3. _____________________ Phagocytes that dispose of debris such as dead brain cells and bacteria.
4. _____________________ Anchors and braces neurons with cellular projections.
5. _____________________ Cells have cilia that help circulate the cerebrospinal fluid.
6. _____________________ Cells help cushion and protect neurons in the PNS.
7. _____________________ Cells serve as a medium for diffusion between capillaries and neurons.
8. _____________________ Cells line cavities of the brain and spinal cord

E. Match the hormones that are supposed to be added to a plant in order to achieve the following results:
Auxin Gibberellin Cytokinin Abscissic Acid Ethylene

________1. unpollinated flowers are treated with this hormone so ovary enlarges and becomes a seedless fruit
________2. substitute for temperature or light cues in plant seeds to get them to germinate
________3. black spots on banana skin are spots where these are produced inducing ripening
________4. seeds/bulbs stay dormant during winter to ensure survival of the plant when it germinates
________5. most grape growers spray this in vines to increase length of branches between fruit clusters for more air
spaces among fruits to lower fungal infections
________6. sprayed on cut leaves and stems so they will remain green longer while unsprayed leaves will turn yellow and
die