neuroanatomy of the brain

• peripheral nervous system -

  • afferent neurones - recieve and trabsmit

  info from environment to CNS

  • efferent neurones - transmit info generated in CNS to periphery
• functions of brain

  ·       processing information

  ·       Planning, initiating movement

  ·       Posture and balance

  ·       Autonomic functions – breathing

  ·       Regulating emotions

  ·       Make decisions

  ·       Learn/ memory
• orientations of the brain

  dorsal - top of brain

  ventral - bottom

  front - rostral

  back - caudal
• Meninges

  Dura -

  • outer layer
  • directly underneath bones of skull
  • tough and thick
  • surrounds brain and spinal cord
• Meninges:

  Arachnoid

  • middle layer
  • spider web appearance
  • thin, transparent membrane
  • sits over grooves in brain and spinal cord
• meninges

  pia-

  • inner layer
  • very thin membrane
  • adheres close to surface of brain and spinal cord - follows the grooves
• grey matter - cell bodies and terminals

  white matter - myelinated axons
• corpus callosum

  white matter tract

  connects two hemispheres

  largest tract
• brain divisions

  forebrain

  midbrain

  hindbrain (pons, medulla, cerebellum)

  brainstem
• cerebrum

  outer folded part of the brain = cortex
• cerebrum

  outer folded part of the brain = cortex

  bumps = gyrus

  grooves = sulci

  large S.A so neurones can fit

  
• Diencephalon

  thalamus and hypothalamus

  • thalamus - relay centre for information

  goes up through brain, removing useless information

  • hypothalamus - controls homeostasis - connected to pituitary gland
• midbrain


  small area

  processes auditor and visual information

  sends motor information to the eye
• PONS

  below midbrain

  connector between cerebellum and main cerebrum
• medulla

  connecting spinal cord to main cerebrum

  -          Allows sensory to come up to brain and motor to leave brain

  -          Sensory – dorsa side

  -          Motor – ventral side
• cerebellum

  back of brain:

  • folded - cerebellum cortex - white and grey matter
  • co ordinates movement
  • receives sensory neurones
• ventricles

  holes in brain - 4 of them

  connected to each other

  -          CSF – where it flows through – carries proteins and removed waste
• 12 pairs of cranial nerves