The Nervous System
The brain and spinal cord. The entire complex of neurons, axons, and supporting tissue that constitute the brain and spinal cord
What is the Central Nervous System?
Chemical messengers which are manufactured by other glands, traveling through the bloodstream, and affecting other tissues.
What are hormones?
Bundled axons that form neural cables connecting the central nervous system with muscles, glands, and sensory organs.
What are Nerves?
These branching extensions of a neutron which receive messages.
What are dendrites?
Neurotransmitter that affects mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal.
What is serotonin?
The part of the peripheral nervous system that controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organsThis nervous system division controls involuntary actions of internal glands and organs.
What is the Autonomic nervous system?
Often called the endocrine system's "most influential gland," it is controlled by the hypothalamus.
What is the Pituitary Gland?
These types of neurons carry incoming information from the sense receptors to the CNS
What are Sensory (or afferent) neurons?
A nerve cell; the basic building block of the nervous system.
What are Neurons?
Neurotransmitter involved in pain perception and immune response. Oversupply can lead to chronic pain.
What is Substance-P?
The division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy.
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
Secreted when an individual is stimulated by fear or anxiety.
What is adrenaline?
Neurons that carry incoming information from the body’s tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
What is sensory (afferent) neurons?
The segmented neuron extension that passes messages through its branches to other neurons or to muscles or glands.
What is an axon?
Neurotransmitter that enables muscle action, learning, and memory. With Alzheimer’s disease, ACh-producing neurons deteriorate.
What is Acetylcholine?
The sensory and motor neurons that connect the Central Nervous System to the rest of the body.
What is the Peripheral Nervous System?
A hormone secreted when operating during times of low stress as a physiological reward.
What is oxytocin?
Neurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
What are motor (efferent) neurons?
The fatty tissue layer segmentally encasing the axons of some neurons; it enables vastly greater transmission speed as neural impulses hop from one node to the next.
What is the Myelin Sheath?
A major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory. Oversupply can overstimulate the brain, producing migraines or seizures.
What is Glutamate?
A neural circuit that is involved in a reflex.
What is the reflex arc?
This hormone regulates sleep-wake cycles.
What is melatonin?
Neurons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.
What are interneurons?
Cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and protect neurons; they may also play a role in learning, thinking, and memory.
What are Glial Cells (glia)?
Neurotransmitter that helps control alertness and arousal. Undersupply can depress mood.
What is Norepinephrine?