Neural Tissue
What is continuous propagation?
Nerves that project from the spinal cord.
What are spinal nerves?
This provides chemical protect from the brain by only allowing certain nutrients into cranial circulation.
What is the blood brain barrier?
The grey matter on the surface of the cerebrum is called ____.
cerebral cortex
List the steps in a spinal reflex arc.
1. Receptor receives a stimulus, 2. An action potential is generated in the sensory neuron. It propagates into the spinal cord through the dorsal root. 3. The spinal cord acts as a control center, processing the sensory information it receives. This usually (but not always) happens in interneurons. 4. The neurons in the spinal cord generate an action potential in the motor neuron. The motor command leaves through the ventral root. 5. The motor command travels down the motor neuron and causes a response at the effector.
The division of the nervous system that is in charge of skeletal muscle contractions.
What is the Somatic Nervous System? (SNS)
The white matter of the spinal cord that carries motor commands from the brain.
What are descending tracts?
The area responsible for the initial processing of sensory information of taste receptors.
What is the gustatory cortex?
The synaptic terminal of a neuron often contains vesicles filled with ____.
Neurotransmitters
Compare and contrast the cerebrum and cerebellum
Cerebellum: Has structures like the folia, vermis, and arbor vitae. Coordinates and fine tunes motor commands. Less complex than the cerebrum.
Cerebrum: Has structures like cerebral cortex, association fibers, commissural fibers, and projection fibers, and lobes. In charge of conscious thought, higher order functions, and processing somatic sensory and motor info. The most complex part of the brain.
The sensory receptors that take in stimuli from internal systems and internal senses?
What are interoceptors?
List the meningeal layers from superficial to deep.
What is dura matter, arachnoid mater, pia mater?
The 6 regions of the brain from most to least complex.
What is Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Diencephalon, Mesencephalon, Pons, Medulla Oblongata?
If the ____ of your cerebrum was injured, you would not be able to understand what you see and hear.
General Interpretive Area (or Wernicke Area)
Compare and contrast an action potential and graded potential.
Graded Potential: Change in voltage caused by a small, localized stimulus. Not capable of propagating. Changes the membrane potential of a cell, but not enough to reach the threshold potential.
Action Potential: Change in voltage caused by a larger, more widespread stimulus. Capable of propagating. Changes the membrane potential of a cell enough to pass the threshold potential.
List the five steps of neurophysiology in order.
1. Resting membrane potential, 2. Graded potential, 3. Action potential, 4. Synaptic Activity, 5. Information processing
The classification of reflex that controls effectors such as smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands.
What is Visceral Reflexes (or Autonomic Reflexes)?
The function of the substantia nigra.
What is to release dopamine to regulate the amount of muscle tone produced by the basal nuclei?
Sensory information enters the spinal cord through the ____ root and motors commands exit through the ____ root.
dorsal; ventral
Cranial bones: shields the brain from physical blows
Cranial meninges: protect and anchor brain
Cerebrospinal fluid: cushion the brain, transports nutrients and wastes
Blood Brain Barrier: isolates the brain from toxins, pathogens, and other unwanted chemicals in the blood
Define spatial summation.
What is when several EPSPs arrive to different synapses at the same time?
Define reciprocal inhibition.
What is making a reflex more efficient by temporarily deactivating muscle groups that are antagonistic to the effector muscle groups?
(i.e. if a reflex uses flexors, extensors are inhibited)
This is responsible for functions like secreting hormones, maintaining body temperature, and coordinating voluntary and autonomic functions.
What is the hypothalamus?
Threshold potential of a neuron is usually at ____ mv.
-60
Describe the ways a cell can maintain resting membrane potential.
Sodium Potassium exchange pump: an active pump on the plasma membrane of a cell that uses ATP energy to push out 3 Na+ and drag in 2 K+
Leak channels: passive channels on the plasma membrane that are always open. The allow Na+ in and K+ out.
Gated channels: Channels that can open and close in response to stimuli. When they are closed, they maintain resting membrane potential.