chapter

3
Neural Control of
Exercising Muscle
 Learning Objectives
• Learn the basic structures of the nervous system
• Follow the pathways of nerve impulses from initiation to
muscle action
• Discover how neurons communicate with one another and
learn the role of neurotransmitters in this communication

(continued)
 Learning Objectives (continued)
• Understand the functional organization of the central
nervous system
• Become familiar with the roles of the sensory and motor
divisions of the peripheral nervous system
• Learn how a sensory stimulus gives rise to a motor response
• Consider how individual motor units respond and how they
are recruited in an orderly manner depending on the
required force
What is the Nervous System?

What is it made out of?

Organization of the Nervous
System
How does the nervous system
send messages?
Neurons
Send &
Receive
Messages

Nerve Impulses
(Electrical Charge)

Passed through
Neurons

CNS
Nerve Impulse

Brain
Myelin Sheath

Ion Exchange =
Sender
Polarize
(Each cell = -70mV)

End of Axon
(attach to muscles, glands or
neurons)
 Resting Membrane Potential
(RMP)
• Difference in electrical charges between in & out of a cell
• Inside = higher levels of K+
• Outside = higher Na+

Inside Outside

Sodium-potassium Pump moves ions

Less Positive More Positive
against diffusion gradient.
 Resting Membrane Potential
(RMP)
Inside Outside

ATP

Na+ passes
out of cell

Less Positive More Positive

 Continued…
Inside Outside

ATP

Na+ passes
Less Positive out of cell More Positive

How do we get negative state with

only positive ions? RMP = -70mV
 What Is an
Action Potential?
• Otherwise known as a nerve impulse and occurs in the
Nodes of Ranvier

• Na+ ions travel inside of cell membrane causing

depolarization of the cell (a larger positive charge)

• In response, K+ ions travel out of the member returning the

inside cell to a less positive charge, called repolarization.

• Hyperpolarization, when too much K+ is leaked out.

Continued…

Relative Refractory
Period

Absolute Refractory Period

 Refractory Periods
Absolute refractory period
– When a given segment of an axon is generating an
action potential, its sodium gates are open and it
is unable to respond to another stimulus
Relative refractory period
– When the sodium gates are closed, the potassium
gates are open, and repolarization is occurring,
the segment of the axon can respond to a new
stimulus, but the stimulus must be substantially
greater to evoke an action potential
Velocity of Action Potential

Impulses move quicker with

Myelinated Neurons

Larger
Diameter
Neurons
Synapse
 The Synapse
• A synapse is the site of an
impulse transmission from
one neuron to another.

• An electric signal (impulse)

travels to a presynaptic axon
terminal

• Synaptic vesicles on the

terminal release
neurotransmitters (e.g.
ACh/adrenaline) into the
synaptic cleft

• ACh bind to postsynaptic

receptors
 Neuromuscular Junction
• The site where a neuron communicates with a muscle fiber.
• Axon terminal only releases the neurotransmitter
(Acetylcholine - ACh).
• ACh travel across the synaptic cleft and binds to receptors
on a muscle fiber’s plasmalemma.
• ACh binds and causes depolarization, and once a threshold
is reached, an action potential occurs.
• The action potential spreads across the sarcolemma, causing
the muscle fiber to contract.
The Neuromuscular Junction
Central Nervous System (CNS)
 Central Nervous System
Brain: 4 Major Regions
• Cerebrum = mind and intellect

• Diencephalon = thalamus and hypothalamus. Site of

sensory integration and regulation of homeostasis.

• Cerebellum = coordinating movements.

• Brain stem = midbrain, pons, the medulla oblongata and

connects brain to spinal cord; it contains regulators of the
respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
Four Major Regions of the Brain
 Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

Sensory division Motor division

PNS

Sensory information from Transmits information

the body via afferent fibers from CNS via efferent
to the CNS fibers to target organs
 PNS: Sensory Division
• Mechanoreceptors = respond to mechanical forces such as
pressure, touch, vibrations, and stretch

• Thermoreceptors = respond to changes in temperature

• Nociceptors = respond to painful stimuli

• Photoreceptors = respond to light to allow vision

• Chemoreceptors = respond to chemical stimuli from foods,

odors, and changes in blood concentrations
 PNS: Motor Division
Autonomic Nervous System
• Parasympathetic
• Sympathetic Nervous System
Nervous System • “Housekeeping”
• Fight or Flight • digestion, urination,
glandular secretion,
• ↑ HR, SV, and energy
Vasoconstriction, conservation.
Glucose release, • Antagonist to
mmHg, reactions, Sympathetic system
• ???
respiration rate.
• ???
The Sequence of Events in
Sensory-Motor Integration
 ???

Why do we need ↑ HR, SV,

Vasoconstriction, Glucose release,
mmHg, reactions, respiration rate.
 PNS : Motor Division

Somatic Nervous System

Voluntary Acts upon impulses from Reflex Arc

Movement CNS (delayed pain)

Small Motor Control Large Motor Control

(Eyes, Fingers) (Vastus Group, Bicep
Femorus, Gastrocnemius)
McArdle, Katch & Katch, 2005
Motor Control Receptors
Kinesthetic Receptors = found in
the joint capsules and detects
positioning of joint.

Muscle Spindles = detect the load

or stretch of a muscle.
Proprioceptors
Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs) = (help control movement)
detect the tension of a muscle on
it’s tendon.
 Muscle Spindles and GTOs

(a) A muscle belly, (b) a muscle spindle, and (c) a Golgi tendon organ
Page 368 from HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, 4th ed. By Dee Unglaub Silverthorn. Copyright © 2007 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Reprinted by permission.
Sensory Receptors
 Further Reading

Wilmore, J.H., Costill, D.L., & Kenny, W.L. (2010)

th
Physiology of Sport and Exercise ( 5 Ed . ) .
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
 The End

Thank you for listening and taking

part!