Transcript- Central nervous system

Hello students. Today I am going to speak to you about a very

important part of our body – the central nervous system. It is made
up of the brain and spinal cord and influences much of our behavior.
So today I will take you on a journey through this important, very
complex organ known as the brain and also the spinal cord. If you
look at yourself, within your body, your head and the spinal cord,
there lies the essence of your identity and this is the brain and the
spinal cord. The brain and the spinal cord are made up of more than
hundred billion nerve cells, which are spread throughout the body
and they are connected in many complex and myriad ways and they
bring in all the information which we get from our sense organs to
the master organ which is the brain and it is here that all this
information is received, analyzed and then the message is spread to
the different parts of the body through the different cells through the
nerve cells, the neurons in the electrochemical process . So the brain
and the spinal cord are connected to all the other parts of the body
and are instrumental in sending the messages, after having analyzed
them and interpreted them, to the different parts of the body. In
doing so, they regulate and modulate all our behavior, whether it is
our thoughts, our feelings, our behavior, our moods, or even our
movement. And so today, we will be looking at these two structures,
which together are very important in our life. The brain is connected
to the spinal cord which runs down from your neck to the base of the
body, towards the hip area. Looking at the spinal cord, it is a complex
cable of nerves that connects the brain to the rest of the body and it
has two main functions. Some of the reflex actions are a result of the
action of the spinal cord and also the various nerves which exist in
the spinal cord are instrumental in carrying message to and from the
brain. So these are the two main functions are the spinal cord. The
reflex actions, some of them, and the carrying of the messages to and
from the brain. This is a very vast communication system which is
monitored by these two structures. Now, coming to the brain, it is
the most complex organ in your body. An important structure, it
controls almost all of our behavior. If you look at it, it is a jelly like
mass, it weighs about 1.4 kg and contains, though it weighs that
much, a staggering amount of nerve cells which make
communication possible which regulates and monitors our behavior.
I will tell you about some of the facts about the brain and then we
will go on to look at the structure, and different parts of the brain.
Then we will see how in the structures of the brain are the areas
which are responsible for the different functions. We will be going
through this journey today. I would like to tell you a few things about
the brain. Most people, when they think of a brain, they call it a gray
matter. But it is only 40 percent of the brain that is gray matter,
which is actually the cell body of the brain and the white matter is 60
percent of the brain which is the axons and dendrites which leave the
cell body and through which the communication is carried
throughout the body. So 40 percent is the gray matter and 60
percent is the white matter. Though the brain is about 2 percent of
the total body weight, but it is a very greedy organ. It takes 20
percent of the oxygen supply of the body and takes 20 percent of the
blood flow throughout the body. The blood vessels supply the brain
with oxygen and nutrients and carry away the wastes. If these brain
cells do not receive oxygen for more than 3-5 minutes, then brain
cells begin to die. Modern technology has made it very easy for us to
understand how the brain works. When we had two or three
methods through which we could study the brain and these were
invasive methods. So by ablations and legions, it was possible for
people who are studying the brain to identify which areas are
carrying which functions. Another invasive method which was used is
the electrical stimulation of the brain. In this, certain parts of the
brain are stimulated with a very low voltage shock and this stimulates
certain parts and tells us about the different functions of the brain.
But today, we don’t only rely on these methods; we have many
modern methods which are at the cutting edge of research. The most
common method of measuring the brain waves is called Electro
Encephalogram. Apart from the EG, which is very common, and you
will find them in most hospitals, we have the CAT scan, which stands
for Computerized Axial Tomography, PET scan which stands for
Positron Emission Tomography, and MRI stands for Magnetic
Resonance Imaging. It images the brain and a more modern method
of this is known as the functional MRI which makes it possible for us
to see which parts of the brain are active in different kinds of
behavior. A very new method is known as the squid, a very complex
method which is being used in some of the areas. I would like to tell
you a little about the development of our brain. It starts right in the
prenatal period, starting from the tubular structure to grow into a
large brain that we know of, which has all different parts. Now, in the
womb, in the prenatal period, genes are largely responsible in
determining how the brain is growing. The brain does not start
growing as soon as you are born. It continues to grow rapidly for the
first three years of your life, and then it goes through a period of
consolidation. It usually has periods of bursts of growth, followed by
a period of consolidation. What happens is during the consolidation
period, some prodding is carried out to remove the excess brain cells
and then again you may have a rapid burst of growth. Now this burst
is usually in the first three years in the life and the final burst is in the
years of young adulthood. Now we know through new research that
the brain continues to develop new brain cells throughout your life
and this process is known as neurogenesis, how your brain ages is
also determined partly by your genes, but largely by your lifestyle. Let
us look at the brain structure. The brain has many structures
embedded within the skull, and the brain is located inside your skull
that is hard structure, and it protects the brain not only from any
movement or jerks or hits or being crushed and also from diseases.
Below the skull are three membranes known as meninges. It is a
space that is filled with fluids which not only keeps the brain buoyant
but it also protects it from external agents. Another way in which the
brain is protected is known as the blood brain barrier. This barrier
prevents most of the molecules coming into the central nervous
system. But there are several drugs which influence our brain and
which are able to cross this blood brain barrier. Now we will look at
the structure of the brain. We look at it as a whole and the larger
components of the brain can be broken down into smaller parts till
we go right down to the nuts and bolts which it’s the neuron. If you
look at the structure of the human brain, it is mainly divided into
three areas, the hindbrain, the midbrain and the forebrain. Each of
these areas consists of different structures and we will be looking at
them in detail. The hindbrain, which is the lower part of the brain,
has three important structures: The Pons, the cerebellum, and the
medulla. The Pons is involved in consciousness, the cerebellum is
important and resembles a cauliflower and the medulla is like a
steam and relays information and is also involved in certain other
functions of the brain. Sitting on top of the hind brain, it’s the mid
brain. It consists of the reticular formation. This formation, which has
many small structures, is implicated in speech and auditory and visual
processing. Then we come to the most important structure and area
of the brain, especially of interest to the psychologists, which is the
fore brain. It consists of many structures. The main structures are
Thalamus, Hypothalamus, the limbic system, the basal ganglia, and
the cerebral cortex. The thalamus is the main structure which
communicated between the rest of the body and sends all the
information to t he higher centers of the brain. Below the Thalamus
lies the hypothalamus. This structure has close connection with the
pituitary gland and is very involved in the running of the endocrine
system. It controls temperature, hunger and thirst. The limbic system
also consists of many structures such as Hippocampus, the Amygdala
and many other structures and is said to be the seat of emotion. I will
look at it in a little more in detail. The basal ganglia are involved in
mortar movement. The most important of the structures of the
forebrain is the cortex. The cerebral cortex, as the name suggests, is
like a covering and it is the most recent addition to the human brain
in terms of evolution and that is why it is also known as the neo-
cortex. When you look at the brain, and you see the top of it which is
a convoluted structure, meaning it has several ups and downs and
what we call in technical terms, is that it has several fishers and
valleys and ridges. These have different names, like the fishers the ??
and the ??? which are the valleys and peaks between the fishers. The
convoluted part of the brain is the cerebral cortex. It is a very
important part of the brain and this structure can be further divided
into four lobes: the frontal lobe, the occipital lobe, the temporal lobe
and the parietal lobe. In between these four lobes, are the various
fishers and ??? and ???. As a rule, generally if you see, the lobes
which are at the back of the brain of the cerebral cortex, which are
the parietal and the temporal lobe, these are the ones which receive
all the information from the various parts of the body through the
sensory organs and it is the other lobes which are the front and
especially, the frontal lobe which is involved in integrating, analyzing
and carrying out the actions based on the information it receives
from the different parts of the body. If you look broadly at the four
lobes, first I will explain to you about the main functions of these
lobes. The occipital lobe is the area of visual perception and all the
sensory information from the eyes are received in this lobe where it
is processed and the actions are carried out, the responses. The
temporal lobe is involved mainly in memory. The parietal lobe is
involved in visual motor guidance. It is the frontal lobe which has a
large number of functions. It is the area of brain which is involved in
planning, decision-making, troubleshooting, novel situation,
dangerous situation, overcome habitual responses and temptation.
Though we try to say that these different functions are carried out in
all different parts of the brain, it is not so simple. All of the parts of
the brain are integrated when we respond to something. But it is
possible to assign certain functions to certain parts of the brain. Now
looking at the limbic system, it has many structures. The
hippocampus which is involved in spatial memory, then another
structure is called amygdala and it is involved in fear, reactions and
emotions. So this is supposed to be the seat of emotions, whenever
you are saying any particular emotion, the short cut in the brain is
such that it goes to the amygdala first and then it reaches the other
parts of the brain where further analysis is carried. So when you
experience a gut feeling, you work your experiences through the
amygdale. The limbic system regulates all kinds of motivated
behavior and emotional behavior, whether it is eating drinking, and
such motivated behaviors. I also want to speak to you about other
important brain structures which are important. There is an anterior
cingulate cortex which runs length wise through the deep parts of the
frontal lobe and this is the brains main switching region. It is often
called the gear switcher and when we have to move our behavior
from one situation to another, it is this part of the brain which is
activated. It is said that this part of the brain is the one that allow us
to have cognition ability. That means flexibility in our thinking, in our
actions and in what we do. The cerebellum is in the high end brain
but it is a very important structure because it contains 50 percent of
my brains neurons and they are involved in motor coordination,
posture and how we walk. Also, they are involved in the processing
speed, how fast we can think. Now you have a fair idea of the
different structures that make up the brain. There are more than 50
structures and I gave you an insight into the hindbrain, the mid brain
and the forebrain. If you look at the cerebral cortex which covers the
brain, it is made up of two hemispheres. It is connected together by a
band of fibers which is called the corpus coliseum and which sallow’s
communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. They are
not two identical, mirror images. There is a slight asymmetry and that
is why it has given rise to the notion of the left brain and the right
brain. Of course I would like to mention here that the left part
controls the right part of the brain. All the messages from the right
side go to the left side and the information from the left side of the
body go to the right side of the brain. This concept of left and right
brain is still under research but many believe that the left brain is the
center for language functions and is supposed to be more creative
and flexible whereas the right brain is the seat for logic. Also the right
brain is dominant over the left brain. Assigning of different functions
to the left and the right brain is known as lateralization of brain
function. Two areas in the brain associated with language are Broca’s
and Wernick’s area which are involved in language comprehension
and other aspects of language are located in the left part of the brain.
The right part is more involved in emotions, creativity and spatial
tasks. Though I said that different parts of the brain have different
functions, I would again like to emphasize that for the convenience of
dividing these functions, we can say that but whenever we are
carrying out any behavior, many parts of the brain are involved in a
coordinated fashion to bring about our behavior. One of the most
common problems is, which affects mainly old people, is known as
Alzheimer’s disease. It is a degenerative disease. As you grow older,
the brain cells do not have the capacity to regenerate. The first thing
that is affected in this disease is memory, which is later followed by
other changes in the personality. Many of the mental disorders such
as schizophrenia, depression, bi polar, disorders, phobic disorders
and sleep disorders occur due to some biochemistry problem or
something wrong in the brain, either it is the levels of
neurotransmitters or some damage to the different parts of the
brain. Attention deficit disorders which affects young children mainly
is due to brain pathology and also some of the learning disabilities
such as dyslexia, dysgraphia et cetera occur with children of normal
intelligence because with some side effects of the brain pathology,
they are not able to keep up with the normal teaching and learning
process. Then we have stroke and traumatic brain injury. Stroke is
when there is insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain and traumatic
brain injury is when you hit your head against something hard or you
receive a jolt of some sort, the brain which is inside the skull is well-
protected but it is shaken up so much that some parts of the brain
get damaged. So these are some of the aspects of brain pathology
and some of the common problems which we have with the brain.

How can we protect our brain and keep it healthy?

That is a very good question. It is very important to respect, protect,

and know how important the brain is for us. You need to protect it
from several things such as physical stress, emotional stress, sleep
deprivation and toxic substances. Also, there are some other things
that will keep your brain in optimal condition. One thing is eating
right. You are what you eat. Therefore, it is important to watch what
you eat, balanced diet is essential. Physical exercise really helps the
brain by opening up more cells and making it more receptive. So if
you have an exam the next day, I suggest you do some physical
exercise which will make you more receptive in taking information.
Listening to music, dancing, playing and instrument et cetera will help
the brain in keeping healthy. You should also know ways of sooding
the brain and you can do that by meditation, listening to your mind
and body, bio-feedback, by laughing on a daily basis to calm and
sooth the brain, and there are several other ways in which you can
help the brain to remain calm and not fall prey to stress. Keep the
brain healthy by indulging in mental exercise, apart from physical
exercise. For instance, you can learn a new language, or play a new
instrument, find out about new things and do crosswords and do all
these things to keep your mind active. I have given you a fair idea
about the brain and the spinal cord which together make up the
central nervous system. No computer can equal the human brain. I
hope you have understood now how the brain functions and it is
better to understand the brain functions since it will help us to lead a
better life, to understand the need to protect and respect our brain
and to not do anything that will harm the brain because it a very vital
organ as far as human behavior is concerned.