ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY 2

Lecture 6&7

The Nervous System 1,2

‫ هوازن أمحد ملفون‬/‫أس تاذ دكتور‬

)‫أس تاذ عمل الفس يولويج (فس يولويج الغدد الصامء واملناعة‬

PROF. DR. HAWAZEN AHMAD LAMFON

Professor of Physiology (Endocrine physiology)

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The Nervous System

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The Nervous System
• Master controller and communicating system in the body.
• It signals the body through electrical impulses that communicate
with the body cells.
• Its signaling and responding abilities are highly specific and
rapid.

STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE NERVOUS

SYSTEM

• Central nervous system (CNS)

– Brain
– Spinal cord
• Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
– Nerve outside the brain and spinal cord

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Central Nervous System
 Consists of brain and spinal cord
 Functions:
• Receives sensory signals and determines appropriate
response
• Stores memory
• Carries out thought

Peripheral nervous system

• The network of nerves branching out throughout the body from
the brain and spinal cord is called the peripheral nervous system.

• There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves branched from the spinal cord
and 12 pairs of cranial nerves that attach to the brain.

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Peripheral nervous system
 Nerves, neurons, and sensory organs outside the central nervous
system
 Functions:
• Sends signals to the CNS
• Receives and transmits motor signals from the CNS
• Stimulates effectors

Functional Classification of the Peripheral Nervous System

1. Sensory (afferent) division - carrying toward a center
Nerve fibers that carry information to the central nervous system
 Somatic sensory (skin, skeletal muscle)
 Visceral sensory (visceral organs)

2. Motor (efferent) division

Nerve fibers that carry impulses away from the central nervous
system
– Activate (effect) muscles or glands to bring about a
response.

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 • Motor (efferent) = 2 division
 Somatic nervous system = voluntary (skeletal muscles)
 Autonomic nervous system = involuntary (smooth and
cardiac muscles, glands)

Organization of the Nervous System

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Autonomic nervous system
 The autonomic nervous system is a part of the peripheral nervous
system.
 it controls the involuntary bodily functions such as sweating,
gland secretions, blood pressure, and the heart. It is divided into:
 The ―sympathetic division
 and ―parasympathetic‖ division
The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the metabolic rate,
respiration, blood pressure, heart rate, and sweating and a decrease in
digestive and urinary function.
The parasympathetic nervous system counteracts the responses of the
sympathetic system and restoring homeostasis.

Nervous Tissue
• Comprise of 2 types of cells
1. Neuroglia = supporting cells
• The insulators, adhesive, protectors and nourishers
2. Neurons = nerve cells that transmit impulses

Nervous Tissue: Neurons

• Neurons = nerve cells
 Cells specialized to transmit messages
 Major regions of neurons:
1. Cell body – nucleus and metabolic center of the cell
2. Processes – fibers that extend from the cell body

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Neuron Anatomy
1. Cell body
• Nissl substance
• Neurofibrils
• Nucleus
• Large nucleolus
2. Extensions outside the cell body
• Dendrites – conduct impulses toward the cell body
• Axons – conduct impulses away from the cell body

• Axons end in axonal terminals which contain vesicles with

neurotransmitters.

• The axon is covered with a insulating fatty layer called a myelin

sheath, and transmits signals a long distance from the neuron to
the area to be activated

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Functional Classification of Neurons
• Sensory (afferent) neurons
– Carry impulses from the sensory receptors
• Cutaneous sense organs
• Motor (efferent) neurons
– Carry impulses from the central nervous system
• Interneurons (association neurons)
– Connect sensory and motor neurons

Structural Classification of Neurons

1. Multipolar neurons – many extensions from the cell body

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2. Bipolar neurons – one axon and one dendrite

3. Unipolar neurons – have a short single process leaving the cell

body

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Nerves
Nerve processes (usually axons) are often bundled together, surrounded
by connective tissue, forming a nerve

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Action Potential
— A nerve signal or action potential is an electrochemical message
of neurons.
—
— An action potential is a brief all-or-none depolarization of a
neuron‖s plasma membrane.
—
— Carries information along axons.
—
— An action potential is self-propagating – once started it
continues to the end.
—
— An all-or-none phenomenon – either the fiber is
conducting an action potential or it is not.

The Nerve Impulse

— Across its plasma membrane, every cell has a voltage called a
membrane potential.
— The inside of a cell is negative relative to the outside.

The plasma membrane at rest is polarized

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The Nerve Impulse
— Neuron at rest – active transport channels in the neuron‖s plasma
membrane pump:
+
— Sodium ions (Na ) out of the cell. Its concentration is 10
times higher than inside.
+
— Potassium ions (K ) into the cell. Its concentration is 30
times higher than outside.
— More sodium is moved out; less potassium is moved in.
— Result is a negative charge inside the cell (-70 mV.).
— Cell membrane is now polarized.

— Resting potential – the charge that exists across a neuron‖s

membrane while at rest.
— -70 mV.
— This is the starting point for an action potential.

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Sodium-Potassium Exchange Pump
+
 Na flows into the cell during an action potential, it must be
pumped out using sodium pumps so that the action potential will
continue.

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—
— A nerve impulse starts when pressure or other sensory inputs
disturb a neuron‖s plasma membrane, causing sodium channels
on a dendrite to open.
— Sodium ions flood into the neuron and the membrane is
depolarized – more positive inside than outside.

• Potassium ions rush out of the neuron after sodium ions rush in,
which repolarizes the membrane
• The sodium-potassium pump restores the original configuration
– This action requires ATP
—
— The nerve impulse travels along the axon or dendrites as an
electrical current gathered by ions moving in and out of the
neuron through voltage-gated channels.
—
— Voltage-gated channels – protein channels in the
membrane that open & close in response to an electrical
charge.

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 — This moving local reversal of voltage is called an action potential.
— A very rapid and brief depolarization of the cell membrane.
— Membrane potential changes from -70 mV to +35 mV.
— After the action potential has passed, the voltage gated channels
snap closed and the resting potential is restored.
— The membrane potential quickly returns to -70 mV during
the repolarization phase.

Synapse
• Neurons usually do not connect directly to one another. A gap
called a synapse controls the transmission of signals.
• Junction between the axonal end of one neuron and the dendrite
of another neuron OR membrane of another cell type
• Synaptic cleft
– Separation that exists between the axonal ending of the
motor nerve and the sarcolemma of the muscle cell fiber

Neurotransmitter
• Chemical substance released from vesicles in the motor nerve
ending (axonal ending)
• Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter released by motor
neurons
• When stimulated by a nerve impulse, Acetylcholine is released,
travels across the synaptic cleft and binds receptors on the motor
end plate
• Stimulates contraction.

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The Reflex Arc
• Nerve impulses are conducted from receptors to effectors over
neuron pathways or reflex arcs; conduction by a reflex arc results
in a reflex (i.e., contraction by a muscle or secretion by a gland)
• Reflex – rapid, predictable, and involuntary responses to stimuli
• Reflex arc – direct route from a sensory neuron, to an
interneuron, to motor neuron to an effector.

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Simple Reflex Arc
 The simplest reflex arcs are two-neuron arcs—consisting of
sensory neurons synapsing in the spinal cord with motor neurons
 three-neuron arcs consist of sensory neurons synapsing in the
spinal cord with interneurons that synapse with motor neurons

Simple Reflex Arc

— A simple reflex produces a very fast motor response to a stimulus
because the sensory neuron bringing information about the
stimulus passes the information directly to the motor neuron.

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Reflex Arc
— Usually, there are interneurons between sensory and motor
neurons.
— An interneuron may connect two neurons on the same side of the
spinal cord, or on opposite sides.

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