Nervous System

- Main function is to respond to stimulus

- A set of nerves that connect the brain to the rest of the body.
- Stimulus: Anything that triggers a response from our brain.
- Mitosis: Reproduction of body cells
- Meiosis: Reproduction of sex cells
Parts and Functions
- Neuron: The fundamental units of the nervous system
● Cells that translate external stimuli into electrical impulses
● Has specialized parts called dendrites and axons
● Can’t reproduce nor regenerate
● Sensory/Afferent: Picks up information and delivers it to the central nervous system
● Motor/Efferent: Transmits the signals from the CNS to the body
● Interneurons: They connect neurons to other neurons.
- Occipital Lobe
- Cell Body: Main part that translates DNA information that is transferred to the Axons and Dendrites
- Axons
- Dendrites: Smaller branch-like extensions of the cell body that processes the information before
transmitting them to the axon
● Excitatory: Sparks a response
● Inhibitory: Inhibits an action.
- Myelin Sheath: A protective covering that insulates the axon and lets electrical impulses travel
smoothly.
Central and Peripheral
- Central: Brain and spinal cord
- Integrates the stimulus response and processes information
- Peripheral: Nerves that connect the brain to the body.
- Carries the information to the rest of the body.
Flow of Information in the Nervous System
Stimulus -> Receptors -> Afferent Neurons -> CNS -> Interneurons -> PNS -> Efferent Neurons -> Response

CNS
● The processing center of the body consists of the brain and spinal cord both protected by layers of
membranes called meninges.
● Cerebrospinal Fluid: The fluid that keeps the brain in place.
● Cranium and Vertebrae: Bones that protect the brain and spinal cord.
● Itis: Inflammation.

Parts:
● Brain: Major organ of the nervous system that is responsible for reading information and controlling the
function of the human body
● Sulcus: Low point of the curve of the brain
● Gyrus: The high point of the curve of the brain
● Grey Matter: Contains most of the functions of the brain like blood flow and dendritic functions
● White Matter
Divisions:
● Forebrain: Makes up the brain’s frontal area and contains the largest section of the brain
called the cerebrum which comprises about 85% of the brain.
Lobes:
- Frontal: It governs the personality and body movement of the person.
- Parietal: Contains the somatosensory cortex which processes the sensory
information and spatial orientation of the person
- Occipital: The one responsible for visual perception.
- Temporal: It is used for auditory perception, speech, memory, and emotional
control.
● Midbrain: Controls the motor movement of eyesight and hearing as well as analysis of
information
Parts:
● Colliculi: Sends information to the Occipital lobe and the Temporal lobe
● Tegmentum: Responsible for release of dopamine, coordination of movement, and
pain suppression
● Cerebral Peduncles
● Hindbrain: Includes the parts necessary for breathing, heart beat, and muscle memory
Parts:
● Pons: Connects both hemispheres of the brain to the spinal cord
● Corpus Callosum: Connects both hemispheres of the brain
● Abducens: Sense of sight and eye movement
● Trigeminal Nerve: Sensations
● Vestibulocochlear: Hearing
● Facial: Facial movement
● Medulla Oblongata: The part of the brain below the pons which is responsible for
the autonomic functions of the body.\
● Vagus Nerve: Movement of the mouth and gag reflex
● Accessory nerve: Coordination of the head and neck
● Glossopharyngeal Nerve: Controls taste
● Hypoglossal Nerve: Movement of the muscles in the mouth.
● Cerebellum: The part of the brain responsible for coordination and muscle memory
● Purkinje Cells: A special kind of neuron that enables the cerebellum that enables it
to process information very quickly
Spinal Cord
- Consist of tightly packed columns of nerves that extends from the brain stem down
- 31 pairs of nerves (8 C 12 T 5 L 5 S 1 Co)
- Cervical: Controls the neck area and the arms, hands, shoulders, as well as the diaphragm
- Thoracic: Controls the chest and mid back while supporting the heart and lungs.
- Lumbar: located in the abdominal and lower back area which controls the hips, legs, bladder, and bowel while
supporting the weight of the upper body
- Sacral and Coccygeal Region: The large triangular bone and the tailbone which is responsible for controlling
balance and sexual function while also helping in processings bowel movement

PNS
- Consist of nerve extensions and clusters of nerve cells in the autonomic and sensory nervous system called
ganglia.
- Somatic Nervous System: It controls motor neurons that are responsible for voluntary functions
- Autonomic Nervous System: It controls the involuntary functions of the body and carries the impulses of internal
organs to the CNS.
Divisions
- Sympathetic: Responsible for the fight or flight response, it targets the heart and the muscles
- Parasympathetic: It allows the body to relax by slowing down heart rate
- Enteric: Controls the digestive function of the body

Endocrine System
- A series of glands that produce hormones which are circulated all over the body through a series of blood vessels nearby.
- Some producers of hormones can be found in the brain (Pituitary) , the throat (Thyroid), over the kidneys (Adrenal), below the
stomach (Pancreas), and the reproductive organs (Gonads).
- Derived from the Greek words Endo meaning “Inside” and Crinis meaning “Secrete”.
- It is responsible for maintaining the internal balance of the body making sure that it is well supplied with hormones.
- They only bind to certain organs that have the right receptors.
- Hormones: The chemical signals that instruct your body to perform a variety of tasks
● Their signals last longer than nerve impulses
- Paracrine Signalling: The process of releasing hormones that degrade quickly and are transmitted to nearby areas only.
- Autocrine Signalling: The process of releasing hormones within a cell or between adjacent cells
- Glands: Organs that produce hormones. (all glands are organs)

Parts:
- Hypothalamus
● The link between the nervous and the endocrine system
● It manufactures hormones produced by the pituitary gland and releases hormones needed to regulate the hormone
levels of the other organs of the body.
- Pituitary Gland: Regulates the other glands.
● Posterior: Produces oxytocin and diuretic hormones.
 - Oxytocin: Triggers the contraction of the uterus that occurs during labor
● Anterior: It produces growth and metabolic hormones
- Somatotropin: Growth hormone
- Prolactin: Responsible for milk production
- Thyrotropin: Regulates the thyroids
- FSH: Regulates the reproductive organs
- Pineal Gland: It releases melatonin which is responsible for sleep.
- Parathyroid Gland: It produces PTH that controls calcium levels in the body.
- Thyroid Gland: It produces thyroxine and triiodothyronine which affect metabolism, heart function, and digestion
- Adrenal Glands: Produces adrenaline and cortisol which regulate blood sugar and cardiovascular condition.
- Pancreas: An accessory gland that produces digestive enzymes, glucagon, and insulin which both maintain blood sugar levels
● Insulin: Lowers blood sugar levels
● Glucagon: Increases blood sugar levels
- Ovaries: A gonad that produces estrogen which is responsible for the development of the female body and progesterone
which prepares the body for bearing a fertilized egg.
- Testes: A gonad which produces testosterone which helps maintain a healthy sperm count and helps the male body develop
for puberty.

Reproductive System
- A system that consist of interconnected sexual organs and tissues that function in unison for the production, storage, and
development of reproductive cells, secretion of hormones, reproduction.
- Sexual Reproduction: The fusion of gametes to create a new individual
- Gametes: The sex cells of the body

Parts:
● Male Reproductive System
- Testes: A pair of oval shaped organs that produce sperm cells
- Scrotum: The bag like skin that protects the testes
- Epididymis: The duct that connects the testes to the vas deferens and the maturation zone for sperm
- Vas Deferens: The passageway for semen
- Seminal Vesicle: Lumps of tubular knots attached to the bladder which is responsible for producing a
sugar rich liquid which is the energy of the sperm cells
- Prostate Gland: A bulbous structure that encases the urethra and creates an alkaline liquid which
preserves the condition of the sperm
- Bulbourethral Gland: Produces an alkaline liquid that eliminates the acidity in urine.
- Ejaculatory Ducts: Short tubular structures that allow the passage of semen during reproduction
- Urethra: A muscular tube that carries the semen from the ejaculatory ducts to the outside of the body
- Penis: The male reproductive organ that is mainly used in sexual intercourse.
- Sperm Cell: The male reproductive cell
Parts:
● Head: The part of the sperm cell that contains the DNA of the male
● Midpiece: The part of the sperm that contains the mitochondrion that powers the cell
● Tail: The part of the body that propels it forward as it swims in the semen
● Female Reproductive System
 - Ovaries: Two almond-shaped organs located on both sides of the female reproductive system that
stores the ovum of a female
- Fallopian Tube: The tube that connects the uterus to the ovary and serves as the site of fertilization
- Uterus: The hollow area at the center of the female reproductive system that carries a fertilized egg
called a zygote and serves as the maturation site of the fetus
- Vagina: The main female reproductive organ used in sexual intercourse
- Fundus: The bulbous protrusion above the central part of the uterus
- Cervix: The narrow tube below the uterus that connects the uterus to the vagina
- Fimbriae: The tube-like structure that connects the ovary to the fallopian tube and pushes the ovum
- Ovum: The non-motile reproductive cell of the female.

Structure of Genes
● Terms
- James Watson and Francis Crick: Discovered that DNA was made up of three things: Sugars, Phosphate, and
Nitrogenous base pairs
- Rosalind Franklin: Used X-ray crystallography to determine that DNA was a double stranded molecule
- Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
● Discovered by Theodore Boveri and Walter Sutton.
● Chromosomes are nuclear structures that consists of interlinking genetic material called DNA
- Chromatins
● Loosely packed long fibrous genetic material which condenses into chromosomes during cell division.
- Histones
● Bead-like masses of protein which provide energy to help compress DNA material.
- Nucleosomes
● The basic unit of chromosomes
● Holds DNA material which bind histones together in the chromosome chain.
● Structure of DNA
- DNA
● A nucleic acid that contains the genetic information of an organism
● It dictates its characteristics, behavior, and identity.
● A double helix structure
● Nucleotides: The building blocks of nucleic acids
- Composed of three materials: Phosphate group, Deoxyribose sugars, and Nitrogenous base
pairs
- Pyrimidines
● A single ring chain in the chemical structure which consists of Thymine and Cytosine.
- Purines
● Two ring chains that are composed of Adenine and Guanine
- Erwin Chargaff
● An American biochemist that proposed a set of rules for the arrangement of nitrogenous base pairs.
● Rule 1: One Cytosine (C) = One Guanine (G) , One Thymine (T) = One Adenine (A)
● Rule 2: The amount of base pairs in organisms vary from organism to organism.
● Structure of RNA
- It is like DNA in structure with only one strand and four nitrogenous base pairs.
 - Thymine in pyrimidines are replaced with Uracil (U) as the base in RNA.
- It is made up of ribose sugars which have an additional hydroxyl group attached to it, phosphates, and nitrogenous
base pairs.
● Central Dogma
- Definition
● The process of translating genetic information to proteins
- Replication
● A process in which DNA reproduces itself into new cells through cell division.
● The mechanism is semiconservative meaning that each original DNA is conserved as the new
complementary strand for each one is created
Process
1. An enzyme called helicase will tear the bond holding the nitrogenous bases together then the
strands form a y-shaped replication fork.
2. Replication happens simultaneously
3. DNA nucleotides pair up with the nitrogenous bases of two strands to create complementary
cells.
- Transcription
● Process when RNA transcribes DNA information
● RNA polymerase interprets and transcribes a gene sequence from an unwound strand of DNA through
complementary nitrogenous bases.
Stages
1. Initiation: The RNA polymerase attaches itself to a particular region in the DNA called a
promoter. It automatically instructs the RNA polymerase where it should attach to.
2. Elongation: As RNA polymerase synthesises the RNA molecule it grows longer
3. Termination: At some point the RNA polymerase will encounter a DNA sequence known as a
terminator which signals the termination of the RNA synthesis.
- Translation
● Once a DNA sequence has been transcribed into mRNA the mRNA transcript must be translated to
manufacture protein molecules with the help of the tRNA and mRNA
● The stage of the process where in the genetic code in the mRNA is translated into a polypeptide or a
chain of amino acids which comprise a protein molecule.
● rRNA: Responsible for the production of ribosomes and the catalysis of amino acids into proteins.
- It coordinates the mRNA and tRNA to synthesise the amino acid into protein.
● tRNA: A decoder that translates the genetic information in the mRNA transcript.
- Once the mRNA transcript carries the gene sequence over to this region, the tRNA transfers it
over to the ribosomes where the codons are interpreted.
- It reads and decodes the codons into specific amino acids using anticodons which are
complementary to codons.
● Process:
- Initiation: Translation begins when the subunit of the ribosome attaches to the starting end of
the mRNA and directs the nitrogenous bases towards the tRNA molecule to form an mRNA
ribosome complex.
- Elongation: The ribosome continues to translate every codon into an amino acid through the
tRNA molecule, which forms an elongating peptide chain.
 - Termination: The elongation process stops once the tRNA reaches the last codon that it can
interpret, which is the last 3 stop codons without any anticodons at the end of the genetic
chain.
- Once this happens the tRNA sends signals to the ribosome indicating that the translation is
finished.

- Genetic Code
● A tabulated list of all the codons in the mRNA transcript and their corresponding amino acid translations.
● From this set a total of 64 codons can be formed and out of those 64 only 61 can be translated since
UAA, UAG, and UGA are signals to end the translation.
- Protein Synthesis
● The final part of the process of the central dogma
● The successive flow of genetic information in the process of replication, interpretation, and translation
occurs constantly to produce amino acids necessary for synthesising or building proteins used for
different bodily functions.
● Proteins are made of amino acids which consist of a primary carbon atom bonded to an amino functional
group, a carboxyl group, a hydrogen atom, and a particular side chain that varies in chemical
components.
● Peptide Bonds: A type of chemical bonding that involves the extraction of a water molecule from the
functional groups that make up an amino acid.