Nama : Ariel Ioannes Arina

NIM : 19011101113
Kelas : G

English Class Assignment

Overview of the Microstructure of the Nervous System

The nervous system has two major divisions, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral
nervous system (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord and contains the majority of
neuronal cell bodies. The PNS includes all nervous tissue outside the CNS and is subdivided into the
cranial and spinal nerves, autonomic nervous system (ANS) (including the enteric nervous system (ENS)
of the gut wall) and special senses (taste, olfaction, vision, hearing and balance). It is composed mainly
of the axons of sensory and motor neurones that pass between the CNS and the body. However, the
ENS contains as many intrinsic neurones in its ganglia as the entire spinal cord, is not connected directly
to the CNS, and may be considered separately as a third division of the nervous system.

The CNS is derived from the neural tube. The cell bodies of neurones are often grouped together in
areas termed nuclei, or they may form more extensive layers or masses of cells collectively called grey
matter. Neuronal dendrites and synaptic activity are mostly confined to areas of grey matter, and they
form part of its meshwork of neuronal and glial processes that is collectively termed the neuropil. Their
axons pass into bundles of nerve fibres that tend to be grouped separately to form tracts. In the spinal
cord, cerebellum, cerebral cortices and some other areas, concentrations of tracts constitute the white
matter, so called because the axons are often ensheathed in myelin, which is white when fresh.

The PNS is composed of the axons of motor neurones situated inside the CNS and the cell bodies of
sensory neurones (grouped together as ganglia) and their processes. Sensory cells in dorsal root ganglia
give off both centrally and peripherally directed processes; there are no synapses on their cell bodies.
Ganglionic neurones of the ANS receive synaptic contacts from various sources. Neuronal cell bodies in
peripheral ganglia are all derived embryologically from cells that migrate from the neural crest.

When the neural tube is formed during prenatal development, its walls thicken greatly but do not
completely obliterate the cavity within. The latter remains in the spinal cord as the narrow central canal,
and in the brain it becomes greatly expanded to form a series of interconnected cavities called the
ventricular system. In the fore- and hindbrains, parts of the neural tube roof do not generate nerve cells
but become thin, folded sheets of secretory tissue that are invaded by blood vessels and are called the
choroid plexuses. The plexuses secrete cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which fills the ventricles and
subarachnoid spaces. and penetrates the intercellular spaces of the brain and spinal cord to create their
interstitial fluid. The CNS has a rich blood supply, which is essential to sustain its high metabolic rate.
The blood–brain barrier places considerable restrictions on the substances that can diffuse from the
blood stream into the nervous tissue.

Neurones encode information, conduct it over considerable distances and then transmit it to other
neurones or to various non-neural cells. The movement of this information within the nervous system
depends on the rapid conduction of transient electrical impulses along neuronal plasma membranes.
Transmission to other cells is mediated by secretion of neurotransmitters at special junctions either with
other neurones (synapses) or with cells outside the nervous system, such as muscle cells (neuromuscular
junctions), gland cells and adipose tissue, and this causes changes in their behaviour.

The nervous system contains large populations of non-neuronal cells, neuroglia or glia that, although not
electrically active in the same way, are responsible for creating and maintaining an appropriate
environment in which neurones can operate efficiently. In the CNS, glia outnumber neurones by 10 to
50 times and consist of microglia and macroglia. Macroglia are further subdivided into three main types:
oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and ependymal cells. The principal glial cell of the PNS is the Schwann cell.
Satellite cells surround each neuronal soma in ganglia.

NEURONES

Most of the neurones in the CNS are either clustered into nuclei, columns or layers or dispersed within
grey matter. Neurones of the PNS are confined to ganglia. Irrespective of location, neurones share many
general features, which are discussed here in the context of central neurones. Special characteristics of
ganglionic neurones and their adjacent tissues are discussed later in this chapter.

Neurones exhibit great variability in size (cell bodies range from 5 to 100 µm diameter) and shape. Their
surface areas are extensive because most neurones display numerous narrow, branched cell processes.
They usually have a rounded or polygonal cell body (perikaryon). This is a central mass of cytoplasm that
encloses a nucleus and gives off long, branched extensions, with which most intercellular contacts are
made. Typically, one of these processes, the axon, is much longer than the others, the dendrites.
Dendrites conduct electrical impulses toward a soma, whereas axons conduct impulses away from it.

Neurones can be classified according to the number and arrangement of their processes. Multipolar
neurones are common; they have an extensive dendritic tree, which arises either from a single primary
dendrite or directly from the soma, and a single axon. Bipolar neurones, which typify neurones of the
special sensory systems (e.g., retina), have only a single dendrite that emerges from the soma opposite
the axonal pole. Unipolar neurones that transmit general sensation (e.g., dorsal root ganglion neurones)
have a single short process that bifurcates into peripheral and central pro-cesses, an arrangement that
arises by the fusion of the proximal axonal and dendritic processes of a bipolar neurone during
development.

Neurones are postmitotic cells and, with few exceptions, are not replaced when lost.

Pigment granules appear in certain regions (e.g., neurones of the substantia nigra contain
neuromelanin), probably a waste product of catecholamine synthesis. In the locus coeruleus a similar
pigment, rich in copper, gives neu-rones a bluish colour. Some neurones are unusually rich in certain
metals, which may form a component of enzyme systems, such as zinc in the hip-pocampus and iron in
the oculomotor nucleus. Ageing neurones, especially in spinal ganglia, accumulate granules of lipofuscin
(senility pigment). They rep-resent residual bodies, which are lysosomes packed with partially degraded
lipoprotein material (corpora amylacea).

The underlined word and their meaning

1. Central Nervous System : the brain and spinal cord and contains the majority of neuronal cell
bodies
2. Peripheal nervous system : all nervous tissue outside the CNS
3. Grey matter : The cell bodies of neurons
4. Neuropiln : meshwork of neuronal and glial processes
5. White matter : concentrations of tracts
6. Ganglia : the cell bodies of sensory neurons
7. The spinal cord : the narrow central canal
8. Ventricular system : interconnected cavities
9. Choroid plexuses : folded sheets of secretory tissue
10. cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) : fills the ventricles and subarachnoid spaces.
11. Muscle cells : neuromuscular junctions
12. Synapses : Other neurons
13. Neuroglia : non-neuronal cells
14. Schwann cell : The principal glial cell of the PNS
15. Perikaryon : rounded or polygonal cell body
16. Retina : neurones of the special sensory systems
17. Dorsal root ganglion neurons : Unipolar neurones that transmit general sensation
18. Nuclei : The cell bodies of neurons
19. Senility pigment : accumulate granules of lipofuscin
20. Corpora amylacea : partially degraded lipoprotein material