ANATOMY

AND
PHYSIOLOGY
MODULE 5
(The Nervous System – Anatomy & Overview)

Prepared by:

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

Instructor
MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT
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Introduction:

The nervous system is the major controlling, regulatory, and communicating system in the body. It is
the center of all mental activity including thought, learning, and memory. Together with the endocrine
system, the nervous system is responsible for regulating and maintaining homeostasis. Through its
receptors, the nervous system keeps us in touch with our environment, both external and internal.

Like other systems in the body, the nervous system is composed of organs, principally the brain, spinal
cord, nerves, and ganglia. These, in turn, consist of various tissues, including nerve, blood,
and connective tissue. Together these carry out the complex activities of the nervous system.

Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. List the various functions of the Nervous system
2. Explain the functional and structural classification of the nervous system
3. Define the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system
4. Differentiate between the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system
5. Describe the general structure of a neuron
6. Differentiate between the different types of neurons

Definition of Terms:

Nervous system: functions in the accomplishment of mental activity, the control of homeostasis, the
regulation of other systems, and the control of skeletal muscles.
Central Nervous System (CNS): consists of the brain and spinal cord
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): consists of nerves and ganglia.
Afferent division of the PNS: transmits action potentials
Efferent division: carries action potentials away from the CNS.
Somatic Motor nervous system innervates skeletal muscle and is mostly under voluntary control.
Autonomic nervous-system innervates cardiac muscle, smooth muscle,
Sympathetic Nervous System -prepares the body for intense physical activity and is often referred to
as the fight-or-flight response
Parasympathetic Nervous System: relaxes the body and inhibits or slows many high energy
functions.
Neurons: receive stimuli and transmit action potentials, consist of a cell body, dendrites, and an axon
and could be multipolar, bipolar, or unipolar.
Neuroglia: is a non-neuronal cell of the nervous system. It is also called glial cells or glia, which is a
Greek word meaning glue.
Neurology: the branch of medicine or biology that deals with the anatomy, functions, and organic
disorders of nerves and the nervous system.

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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Discussion:

The nervous system is a network of neurons whose main feature is to generate, modulate and
transmit information between all the different parts of the human body. This property enables many
important functions of the nervous system, such as regulation of vital body functions
(heartbeat, breathing, digestion), sensation and body movements. Ultimately, the nervous system
structures preside over everything that makes us human; our consciousness, cognition, behavior and
memories.

Two Divisions of the Nervous System:

1. Central nervous system (CNS) is the integration and command center of the body
2. Peripheral nervous system (PNS) represents the conduit between the CNS and the body.
somatic nervous system (SNS)
autonomic nervous system (ANS).

Key facts about the nervous system

Definition A network of neurons that sends, receives and modulates neural impulses between
different body parts.
Divisions Central nervous system
Peripheral nervous system
Central nervous system Brain and spinal cord

Peripheral nervous Spinal and cranial nerves.

system Functional divisions:
- Somatic nervous system
- Autonomic nervous system; sympathetic, parasympathetic and enteric divisions

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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General Functions of the Nervous System

The nervous system is composed predominantly

of neural tissue, but also includes blood vessels and
connective tissue. Much of the work of the nervous
system centers on sending and receiving
electrochemical messages from neurons to neurons and
other cell s at synapses.

Neural tissue consists of t w o cell types: nerve cells,

or neurons (nu'ronz), and neuroglial (nu-rog'le-ahl)
cells (or neuroglia).

1) Neurons are specialized to react to physical

and chemical changes in their surroundings. Small
cellular processes called dendrites (den'dritz) receive
theinput, and a longer process called an axon (ak'son),
ornerve fiber, carries the information away from the
cell in
the f orm of bioelectric signals called nerve impulses
(fig.10.1). Nerves are bundles of axons.

2) Neuroglial cells were once thought only to fill

spaces and surround or support neurons. Today, we
know that they have many other functions. including nourishing neurons and perhaps even sending and
receiving messages

An important part of the nervous system at the cellular level is not a cell at all, but the small
space between a neuron and the cell ( s ) with which it communicates called a synapse (sin'aps).
T h e actual carriers of this information are biological messenger molecules called
neurotransmitters (nu"ro-trans-mit'erz).

The organs of the nervous system can be divided into two groups.
1) One group, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, forms the central nervous system (CNS),
2) Nerves (cranial and spinal nerves) that connect the central nervous system to other body parts, is
called the peripheral nervous system (PNS) ( f i g . 10.2).

Three general functions:

1) Sensory,
 Structures called sensory receptors al the ends of
 peripheral neurons provide the sensory function of the nervous system
 gather information by detecting changes inside and outside the body
 monitor external environmental factors ( light, sound intensities ,temperature, oxygen
concentration, other conditions of the body's internal environment).
 Sensory receptors convert (or transduce) their information into nerve impulses, which are then
transmitted over peripheral nerves to the CNS.
MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT
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2) Integrative
 There the signals are integrated at CNS—that is, they are brought together, creating
sensations, adding to memory, or helping produce thoughts.

3) Motor.
 Following integration, conscious or subconscious decisions are made and then acted upon by
means of motor functions.
 The motor functions of the nervous system employ neurons that carry impulses from the CNS
to responsive structures called effectors.
 These effectors are outside the nervous system and include muscles that contract in
response to nerve impulse stimulation, and glands that secrete when stimulated.

The motor portion of the PNS can be subdivided into:

1) Somatic. Generally
 the somatic nervous system oversees conscious (voluntary) activities, such as skeletal
muscle contraction.
2) Autonomic nervous systems
 controls viscera, such as the heart and various glands, and controls subconscious
(involuntary) actions

The nervous system
 can detect changes in the body ,make decisions on the basis of the information received, and
stimulate muscles or glands to respond
 these responses counteract the effects of the changes, and in this way, the nervous system
 helps maintain homeostasis

Nervous tissue comprises two types of cells—neurons and neuroglia. These cells combine in a
variety of ways in different regions of the nervous system. In addition to forming the complex
processing networks within the brain and spinal cord, neurons also connect all regions of the body to
the brain and spinal cord. As highly specialized cells capable of reaching great lengths and making
extremely intricate connections with other cells, neurons provide most of the unique functions of the
nervous system, such as sensing, thinking, remembering, controlling muscle activity, and regulating
glandular secretions. As a result of their specialization, most neurons have lost the ability to undergo
mitotic divisions.
Neuroglia are smaller cells but they greatly outnumber neurons, perhaps by as much as 25
times. Neuroglia support, nourish, and protect neurons, and maintain the interstitial fluid that bathes
them. Unlike neurons, neuroglia continue to divide throughout an individual lifetime. Both neurons and
neuroglia differ structurally depending on whether they are located in the central nervous system or the
peripheral nervous system. These differences in structures correlate with the differences in function of
the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.

Neurons
 vary considerably in size and shape

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  , but they share certain features like cell body, dendrites, and an axon. Figure 10.3)
Cell body (soma or perikaryon)
 contains granular cytoplasm, mitochondria, lysosomes, a Golgi apparatus, and many
microtubules
Neurofibrils
 A network of Fine threads extends into the axons and supports them. (Nissl bodies),
 Scattered throughout the cytoplasm are many membranous packets of chromatophilic substance
which consist mainly of rough endoplasmic reticulum.
Cytoplasmic inclusions
 contain glycogen, lipids, or pigments such as melanin.
Nucleus
 large and spherical body with a conspicuous nucleolus, near the center of the neuron cell
 Mature neurons generally do not divide: neural stem cells do.
Dendrites
 highly branched, providing receptive surfaces to which processes from other neurons
communicate. (In some kinds of neurons, the cell body itself provides such a receptive surface.)
Often the dendrites have tiny, thorn like spines (dendritic spines)
on their surfaces, which are contact points for other neurons.

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS:

SAQ #1: What are the general functions of the nervous system? (3 point)
ASAQ#1___________________________________________________________________
SAQ #2: How do the two types of neural cells differ from each other structurally and
functionally? (3 points)
ASAQ#2__________________________________________________________________

A neuron may have many dendrites, but only one axon. The axon, w h i c h often arises from a
slight elevation of the cell body (axonal hillock ) , is a slender, cylindrical process with a nearly smooth
surface and uniform diameter.
It is specialized to conduct nerve impulses away from the cell body.
T h e cytoplasm of the axon includes many mitochondria, microtubules, and neurofibrils
(ribosomes are found o n l y in the cell body). The axon may give off branches, called collaterals. Near
its end, an axon may have many f i n e extensions, each with a specialized ending called an axon
terminal. This ends as a synaptic knob very close to the r e c e p t i v e surface of another cell, separated
only bv a space called the synaptic cleft. In addition to conducting nerve impulses, an axon conveys
biochemicals that are produced in the neuron cell body, w h i c h can be quite a task in these very long
cells. This process, called axonal transport, involves vesicles. mitochondria, ions, nutrients, and
neurotransmitters that move from the cell body to the ends of the axon.

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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 Neuroglial cells called Schwann cells, found only in the PNS, encase the larger axons of
peripheral neurons in lipid - rich sheaths formed by lightly wound layers of cell membrane, somewhat
like a bandage wrapped around a finger. The layers are composed of myelin (which has a higher
proportion of lipid than other surface membranes. This coating is called a myelin sheath. The portions
of the Schwann cells that contain most of the cytoplasm and Ihe nuclei remain outside the myelin
sheath and comprise a neurilemma (nu'Ti-lem'mah), or neurilemma} sheath, which surrounds the
myelin sheath ( f i g , 10.4). Narrow gaps in the myelin sheath between Schwann cells are called nodes
of Ranvier (fig, 10.4). Schwann cells also enclose, but do not w i n d around, the smallest axons of
peripheral neurons. Consequently,
These axons lack myelin sheaths. Instead. The axon or a group of axons may lie partially or
completely in a longitudinal groove of Schwann cells.Axons that have myelin sheaths are
called myelinated (medullatod) axons, and those that lack these sheaths are unmyelinated axons (fig.
10.5). Groups of myelinated axons appear while. Masses of such axons impart color to the white matter
in the brain and spinal cord, but here in the central nervous system another kind of neuroglial cell
called an oligodendrocyte produces myelin. In the brain and spinal cord, myelinated axons lack
neurilemmas.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS: (6 POINTS)

SAQ #3: Identify and describe basic structures of neurons and function and give their function?
ASAQ#3_____________________________________________________

Classification of Neurons and Neuroglial Cells

Neurons vary in size and shape. They may differ in the length and Sizes of their axons and dendrites
and in the number of processes that they use to communicate with other neurons. Neurons also vary in
function. Some carry impulses into the brain or spinal cord, while others carry impulses out. Still others
conduct impulses from neuron to neuron within the brain or spinal cord. On the basis of structural
differences, neurons can be classified into three major groups, as figure 10.6 shows.

Each type of neuron is specialized to send a nerve impulse in one direction.

1. Bipolar neurons.
 The cell body of a bipolar neuron has only two
processes, one arising from either end.
 processes are similar in structure,
one is an axon and the other is a dendrite.
 neurons are found in specialized parts of
the eyes, nose, and ears.
2. Unipolar neurons.
 Each unipolar neuron has a single process
extending f r om its cell body.
 A short distance from the cell body, this
process divides into two branches, which
really function as a single axon: One branch
(peripheral process) is associated with
dendrites near a peripheral body part.

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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 The other branch (central process) enters the brain or spinal cord. The cell bodies of some
unipolar neurons aggregate in specialized masses of nerve tissue called ganglia, which are
located outside the brain and spinal cord.
3. Multipolar neurons.
 Multipolar neurons have many processes arising from their cell bodies.
 Only one is an axon; the rest are dendrites.
 Most neurons whose cell bodies lie within the brain or spinal cord are of this type

Classification of Neuron by Functional Differences

depending on whether they carry information into the CNS, completely within the CNS. or out of the
CNS;
1. Sensory neurons (afferent neurons)
 Carry nerve impulses from peripheral body parts into the brain or spinal cord.
 At their distal ends, the dendrites of these neurons or specialized structures associated with
them act as sensory receptors
 Detecting changes in the outside world (eyes, ears, or touch receptors in the skin)
 Within the body (temperature or blood pressure receptors). when stimulated, sensory
receptors trigger impulses that travel on sensory neuron axon into the brain or spinal cord.
 Most sensory neurons are unipolar some are bipolar .
2. Interneurons also called association or internuncial neuron
 Lie within the brain or spinal cord
 They are multiple polar and form links between other neurons.
 Interneurons transmit impulses from one part of the brain or spinal cord
 May direct incoming impulses to appropriate regions for processing and interpreting
 other incoming impulses are transferred to neurons
3. Motor neurons (efferent neurons)
 are multi polar and carry nerve impulses out of the brain or spinal cord to effectors-structure
that respond, such as muscles or glands
 when motor impulses reach muscles, they contract
 when motor impulses reach glands, they release secretions
 mostly control skeletal muscles under voluntarycontrol

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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Classification of Neuroglial Cells

Neurons and neuroglial cells are intimately related.

They descend from the same neural stem cells and remain associated throughout their existence.
Neuroglial cells - function, providing scaffolding and controlling sites at which neurons contact one
another
 In the embryo, neuroglial cells guide neurons to their positions and may stimulate them to
specialize.
 Neuroglial cells also produce the growth factors that nourish neurons and remove ions and
neurotransmitters that accumulate between neurons, enabling them to continue transmitting
information.
 In cell culture experiments, certain types of neuroglial cells (astrocytes) signal neurons to form
and maintain synapses.

Neuroglia of the PNS

The two types of neuroglia in the peripheral nervous system:
1. Schwann cells produce the myelin found on peripheral myelinated neurons
2. Satellite cells support clusters of neuron cell bodies called ganglia, found in the PNS.

The four types of CNS neuroglia are astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, ependyma, and microglia:
1. Astrocytes
 Star-shaped c e l l s . T h e y are
 Found between neurons and blood vessels, where they provide support and hold structures
together with abundant cellular processes.
 Aid metabolism of certain substances, such as glucose, and they may h e l p regulate the
concentrations of important ions, such as potassium ions, within the interstitial space of nervous
tissue
 Respond to injury of brain tissue and form a special type of scar tissue, which fills spaces and
closes gaps in the CNS.

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  Also have a nutritive function, regulating movement of substances f r om blood vessels to
neurons and bathing nearby neurons in growth factors
 Also play an important role in the blood-brain barrier, restricts movement of substances
between the blood and the CNS
 Gap junctions link astrocytes to one another, forming protein-lined channels through which
calcium ions travel, possibly stimulating neurons.
2. Oligodendrocytes.
 Oligodendrocytes resemble astrocytes but are smaller and have f e w e r processes.
 T h e y commonly occur in rows along myelinated axons, and they form myelin in the brain and
spinal cord.
 Can send out a number of processes, each of which forms a myelin sheath around a nearby axon
 A single oligodendrocytes may provide myelin for many axonsbut don’t form neurilemma.
3. Microglia, Microglial
 Cells are small and have fewr processes than other types of neuroglial cells.
 Scattered throughout Ihe CNS. support neurons and phagocytize bacterial cells and cellular
debris
 Proliferate whenever the brain or spinal cord is inflamed due to injury or disease.
4. Ependyma. Ependvmal cells Eire
 Cuboidal or columnar in shape and may have cilia
 Form the inner lining of the central canal that extends downward through the spinal cord.
Ependvmal cells
 Form a one-cell-thick epithelial-like membrane that covers the inside of spaces w i t h in the
brain called ventricles
 Form a porous layer through w h i c h substances diffuse freely between the interstitial fluid of
the brain tissues and the fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) within the ventricles.
 Ependymal cells also cover the specialized capillaries called choroid plexuses that are ssociated
with the ventricles of the brain
 Regulate the composition of the cerebrospinal fluid.

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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 STUDENT ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS:

SAQ #4: What are different the classification of neurons and neuroglia? Describe each. (8
points of class standing)
ASAQ#4___________________________________________________________________

Summary:

 Nervous tissue includes neurons, which are the structural and functional units of the nervous
system, and neuroglia. Organs of the nervous system are divided into the central and peripheral
nervous systems.
 Sensory functions involve receptors that detect internal and external changes. Integrative
functions collect sensory information and make decisions that motor functions carry out. Motor
functions stimulate effectors to respond.
 Neuroglia in the central nervous system includes microglial cells, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes,
and ependymal cells. In the peripheral nervous system, Schwann cells form myelin sheaths.
 A neuron includes a cell body, dendrites, and an axon. Dendrites and the cell body provide
receptive surfaces. A single axon arises from the cell body and may be enclosed in a myelin
sheath and a neurilemma.
 Neurons are classified structurally as multipolar, bipolar, or unipolar. Neurons are classified
functionally as sensory neurons, interneurons, or motor neurons.

References:

Kevin Patton, Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill

Edition
Anatomy and Physiology, Open Stax, Rice University, 2013
Hole’s Human Anatomy & Physiology 11th Edition, McGraw-Hill Higher Edition
Elaine N. Marieb, Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology 10th
Edition,Pearson Education, Inc., 2012
Elaine N. Marieb, Human Anatomy& Physiology Laboratory Manual 10 th Edition,
Pearson International Edition 2014

MARICEL L. DATOY, RN, MAN, LPT

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