Nervous System

• Nervous System - maintains body homeostasis with electrical signals
• Nervous System - provides for sensation, higher mental functioning, and emotional response, as well as activates muscles and glands
• Nervous System - the master controlling and communicating system of the body
• Electrical impulses - its signaling device, or means of communicating with body cells
• The nervous system controls with rapid electrical nerve impulses.
• Sensory Receptors - monitor changes both inside and outside of the body
• Stimuli - changed variable
• Sensory Input - the gathered information from the receptors
• Integration - a process that interprets the sensory input and decides what should be done at each moment
• Effectors - the activating muscles or glands that the motor output uses
• Central Nervous System - consists of the brain and spinal cord, which occupy the dorsal body cavity
• Central Nervous System - acts as the integrating and command centers of the nervous system
• Peripheral Nervous System - the part of the nervous system outside CNS
• Peripheral Nervous System - consists mainly of the nerves that extend from the brain and spinal cord
• Spinal nerves - carry impulses to and from the spinal cord
• Cranial nerves - carry impulses to and from the brain
• Sensory or afferent - consists of nerves that convey impulses to the central nervous system from the receptors
• Somatic sensory fibers - delivers impulses from the skin, skeletal muscles, and joints
• Visceral sensory fibers - transmits impulses from the organs like heart, lungs, etc.
• Motor or efferent - carries impulses from the CNS to the effector organs, the muscles and glands
• Somatic nervous system - allows us to consciously, or voluntarily, control our skeletal muscles
• Automatic nervous system - regulates events involuntarily, such as the activity of smooth and cardiac muscles and glands
• Sympathetic - "flight-or-fight"
• Parasympathetic - "rest-and-digest"
• Neuroglial - supporting cells in the CNS; literally "nerve glue"
• Astrocytes - abundant star-shaped cells that account for nearly half of the neural tissue
• Astrocytes - their numerous projections have swollen ends that cling to neurons, bracing them and anchoring them to the nutrient supply lines
• Astrocytes - form a living barrier between capillaries and neurons, help determine capillary permeability, and play a role in making exchanges between the two
• Astrocytes - "mopping up" leaked potassium ions and recapturing released neurotransmitters
• Microglial - spiderlike phagocytes that monitor the health of nearby neurons
• Ependymal cells - glial cells that line the central cavities of the brain and the spinal cord
• Oligodendrocytes - glia that wrap their flat extensions tightly around the nerve fibers, producing fatty insulating coverings called myelin sheaths
• Gliomas - tumors formed by glial cells
• Schwann Cells - form the myelin sheaths around nerve fibers that are found in the PNS
• Satellite Cells - act as protective, cushioning cells
• Neurons - are highly specialized to transmit nerve impulses from one part to another
• Cell body - the metabolic center of the neuron
• Dendrites - neuron processes that convey incoming messages toward the cell body
• Axons - generate nerve impulses and typically conduct them away from the cell body
• Myelin Sheaths - are fatty insulating covering of the neurons and neuroglial