REFLEXES

Presented by
Avni Dhruw
1910134005
6th semester
Overview
• Introduce Reflexes
• Anatomical Background
• Visceral Reflexes
• Somatic Reflexes
• Importance of Testing Reflexes: Testing your Reflexes
• View Cadaveric Tissues involved in Reflexes
What is a reflex?

• A reflex is an automatic, involuntary response.

• A reflex can be a response to a stimulus or to internal feedback.
• Reflexes are necessary to survival.
What is the function of a reflex?
• The function of a reflex is to maintain homeostasis.
• Removes body from painful stimuli that could cause tissue damage.
• Prevents body from suddenly falling and moving.
• Maintains blood pressure, breathing rate, water intake, blood carbon dioxide
levels (yawning), etc.
• Protects us from irritants: coughing, sneezing, vomiting, etc.
Anatomical Background
• A crash course in the nervous system:
• What is a neuron? What is a nerve?
• Spinal cord anatomy and physiology.
What is a neuron?
• A neuron is the functional unit of the nervous system.
• Neurons and their components can be found in the brain and spinal cord (two
components of central nervous system, CNS) and peripheral tissues.
• Functions:
• Relay sensory and motor information from one tissue to another using electrochemical
signals.
• Act as integrating centers.
What is a neuron?
• A neuron is composed of three main structures.
• Cell body (soma, perikaryon)
• Contains the components of a typical cell that conduct the
normal processes of a living cell.
• Responds to messages from dendrites by processing
information.
• Dendrites
• Extensions of the cell body that are receptive to stimuli.
• Conducts messages towards cell body.
• Axons
• A single extension of the cell body that transmits information
from cell bodies to ‘other cells’.
• ‘Other cells’ respond to messages by continuing the conduction
of the message or physically doing work (e.g. muscle
contraction).
 What is a neuron?

Web Anatomy, University of Minnesota

Reflexes
• Crash course almost over…..
• A reflex is a response to a stimulus.
• The actual anatomical and physiological basis behind a reflex is a reflex arc.
• A reflex arc is the simplest of all nerve pathways.
• A nerve pathway is the route messages or information travels through the nervous system.
• Involves at least 2 neurons – a sensory and motor neuron.
Components of a Reflex Arc
• There are 5 basic components to a reflex arc:
• Sensory receptor – a nerve or specialized tissue located at the end of a
sensory neuron that is the first structure to respond to a stimulus.
• Sensory neuron – may act as the sensory receptor.
• Spinal cord or brain tissue
• Motor neuron
• Effector organ/tissue – the tissue that responds to the message from the
motor neuron.
• Muscle
• Gland
Types of Reflexes
• There are two main groups of reflexes:
• Somatic reflexes

• Autonomic/visceral reflexes

• How reflexes are categorized depends on the effector tissue involved.

Autonomic Reflexes
• The effector tissues of autonomic reflexes are smooth muscle, cardiac
muscle and glandular tissue.
• Both the brain and spinal cord can act as integrating centers for
autonomic reflexes.
• Autonomic reflexes result in gastric juice secretion, mouth watering
upon seeing/smelling/thinking about food, regulating blood pressure,
adjusting heart rate to level of exercise, etc.
Somatic Reflexes
• The effector tissue of somatic reflexes is skeletal muscle.
• You have conscious control over all of your skeletal muscles.
• Some skeletal muscle movements do not require your conscious thought. These
movements occur without you consciously having to initiate the muscular movement.
• Breathing, swallowing, blinking, ability to pull away from a hot object before you even sense
the heat, etc.
Examples of Somatic Reflexes
• There are three common somatic reflexes discussed in most anatomy
and physiology courses.
• Stretch (knee-jerk, patellar) reflex.
• Withdrawal (flexor) reflex.
• Crossed-extensor reflex.
Importance of Testing Reflexes
• Many of our somatic reflexes can be assessed.
• Testing somatic reflexes is an important diagnostic tool.
• Assessment of somatic reflexes tells us something about the condition of the nervous
system (usually the CNS).
• If a reflex is distorted, exaggerated, weak or absent this may indicate a problem in the
nervous system.
• This is usually one of the first signs of nervous system pathology.
Importance of Testing Reflexes
• Pathology associated with abnormal reflexes
• Absent reflexes
• Demyelination
• Muscular dystrophies
• Spinal cord injuries
• Closed head injuries
• Exaggerated reflexes
• Spinal stenosis – compression of spinal cord.