CNS Basics
The two main parts of the Central Nervous System.
What are the brain and spinal cord?
This type of matter consists primarily of axons and oligodendrocytes.
What is white matter?
These cells anchor neurons to their blood supply and regulate the local environment.
What are astrocytes?
The total number of cranial nerve pairs in the human body.
What is 12?
The cranial nerve responsible for smell.
What is the olfactory nerve?
The primary function of the CNS.
What is controlling most functions of the body and mind?
The part of the CNS where gray matter is primarily located.
What is the outer cortex?
These cells form the myelin sheath around CNS neurons.
What are oligodendrocytes?
Cranial nerves pass through these openings in the skull.
What are foramina?
The cranial nerve that transmits visual information.
What is the optic nerve?
The CNS interacts closely with this other major part of the nervous system.
What is the Peripheral Nervous System [PNS]?
Both white and gray matter contain these supportive cells.
What are glial cells?
These cells help create and circulate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
What are ependymal cells?
These two cranial nerves are part of the CNS rather than the PNS.
What are the olfactory and optic nerves?
The number of nerve fibers in each optic nerve.
What is approximately 1.7 million?
The system that houses both white and gray matter.
What is the Central Nervous System?
White matter appears white because of this fatty insulating substance.
What is myelin?
These cells act as scaffolding for new nerve cells during embryonic development.
What are radial glia?
The primary function of cranial nerves.
What is sending information between the brain and the head/neck?
The part of the brain where olfactory information is processed.
What is the olfactory bulb?
This type of cell outnumbers nerve cells 10 to 1 in the CNS.
What are glial cells?
The function of white matter in the CNS.
What is transmitting nerve signals efficiently?
The main difference between CNS and PNS glial cells.
What are CNS glial cells that stay in the brain and spinal cord, while PNS glial cells function in peripheral nerves?
Unlike other cranial nerves, these do not pass through the spinal cord.
What are all 12 cranial nerves?
The final destination of visual signals sent from the optic nerve.
What is the primary visual nuclei of the brain?