BIL 268

02/03/2015

Lecture 7. Structure of the NS (Nervous System)

Last lecture before the first exam. The review is on Thursday.
Exam questions will primarily come from the lecture notes.
I. Gross Organization of the NS
Nervous System Divisions
The entire NS is divided into two parts.
The CNS and the PNS.
o Central nervous system and peripheral nervous system.
The CNS is the brain and the spinal cord.
They are connected by the nerve bundles.
The nerve bundles belong to the PNS.
Gross Organization of the Mammalian Nervous System
You need to have three views. (Only two shown in the ppt.)
Lateral (side) and dorsal (top) views.
Dorsal is the top view and ventral is the bottom.
Anterior/Rostral is the front view and posterior/caudal is the back view.
Know lateral and medial.
Different for human systems.
Know the differences.
Know the transverse, sagittal, and horizontal sections.
The CNS: Brain, spinal cord
Refer to ppt. for the different views of the brain (lateral, dorsal, midsagittal)
Cerebrum is the major portion of the brain. (represented by blue on the
ppt.)
The cerebellum is the smaller part of the brain (also referred to as little
brain.)
The brain stem includes diencephalon, midbrain, pons and medulla.
In most cases, only the midbrain, pons, and medulla are considered
to be the components of the brainstem.
The cerebrum is where you see the sensory output and it contains the motor
network system.
It is divided into left and right hemispheres.

The left side of the body is associated with the right half of the
brain. (Right cerebral hemisphere.)
o Contralateral projection.
Cerebellum is mainly for co-ordination and movement.
The brain stem ahs many vital centers.
Controls respiration, and blood pressure.
If there is damage to the cerebrum, you might survive.
Damage to the brainstem can be fatal because it houses many vital centers.

The Spinal Cord

The spinal cord is the conduit of information.
The spinal cord is connected to many pairs of spinal nerves.
Total of 30 pairs of spinal nerves.
Each spinal nerve is divided into two branches.
o Dorsal root and the ventral root.
o Dorsal is sensory and ventral is motor control.
One spinal nerve is a mixed bundle of sensory and motor information.
Sensory goes to the CNS and motor goes out of the CNS.
The receptor cells are innervated by the sensory fibers.
The sensory information will go to the dorsal roots.
The cell body of the motor neurons are inside the spinal cord.
In the cross section.
The central region of the spinal cord is known as grey matter.
When you cut the section and observe it, it is grey due to the cell
bodies concentrated in the area.
The surrounding area is basically the fiber tracks, for the myelinated fiber
tracks.
This area is the white matter.
If you look at the central part of the SC, it is not a solid piece.
It is a part of the ventricular canal.
o The canal is inside the spinal cord and is the portion of the
whole structure.
Know all the parts mentioned, i.e. the dorsal horn and the ventral horn.
Motor neurons in the ventral horn go to innervate skeletal muscles.
Motor neurons in the lateral horn go to innervating the internal organs.

Peripheral Nervous System

Divided into two parts : somatic (skeletal muscles) and visceral (internal
organs/autonomic nervous system)
Somatic falls under the voluntary control.
If you look at the PNS, there are 12 pairs of nerves known as the cranial
nerves.
They are directly connected to the brain.
Within the 12 pairs, there are_
Olfactory
Optic nerves
Auditory vestibular the 8th nerve; basically the nerve from your
ear.
You need to know what the dorsal root ganglia is and what the spinal nerves
are (mixed nerve fibers with sensory and motor information.)
Afferent fibers carries information to a particular point.
Using CNS as a reference, fibers going towards the CNS are afferent
fibers.
Efferent fibers carry information away from a point.
For the motor fibers, they are the efferent fibers and their cell body
is inside the SC and they are sending out axons to the internal
organs.
Using the brain as a reference:
Whenever you have a fiber coming in to make a synapse, the fiber
can be considered to be the afferent fiber.
The neuron will have axons coming out, which can be considered to
be efferent.
Cranial Nerves
Required to know what is the name of the 12 cranial nerves and their
general functions.
Pay attention to the three sensory cranial nerves.
The first pair is supposed to be part of the brain.
All the cranial nerves are considered to be a part of the PNS.
The second optic nerve is also supposed to be a part of the CNS.
In the ppt. with the cranial nerves, S is for sensory and M is for motor.

The trochlear (fourth one) also controls the eye movement and is considered
to be motor.
Trigeminal is both S and M.
Abducens is M and is also associated with eye movement. (along with optic,
oculomotor, and trochlear.)
Zebra fish
What is the optic nerve?
The axon of ganglion cells in the retina.
In the retina there are many types of cells.
o Retinal ganglia cells send out axons and the collection of
those axons form the optic nerve that is projected to the
brain.
You inject dye into the eye, and the ganglion cells pick up the dye and are
projected to the eye.
The fish brain and the visual input to the brain is different from humans.
100% contralateral arrangement.
For humans, it is not 100% contralateral.
Some of the ganglion cells will stay ipsilateral.
Three Meninges
Can you see brain tissue after the procedure has been conducted?
Probably not, because the membrane covers the brain tissue.
For the Dura mater, the outer layer is extremely tough.
The second layer, known as the arachnoid membrane is followed by the pia
mater, which is a very fragile layer connected to the brain.
These are the three brain layers.
There is inflammation, which can lead to meningitis and can be life
threatening.
High fever.
In normal situations, there is supposed to be no space between the Dura
matter and the arachnoid membrane.
Space will lead to pressing down, which will lead to eventual
neuronal death.
o Subdural hematoma blood getting to the subdural space.

Between the second and the middle later, there is some space that is filled
with fluid called cerebral spinal fluid.
The fluid surrounds the entire brain and protects it and provides
nutrients.
There are also blood vessels coming in to supply the brain.
The CSF is cumulated in the subarachnoid space, and too much of it
can lead to hydrocephalus.
o Can cause the brain to shrink and become smaller, which will
affect brain development.
The Ventricular System
The brain is not a solid piece.
There are channels and chambers inside the brain.
The CSF in the brain provides a cushion to the spinal cord as well.
The CSF is produced by the choroid plexus.
It goes to the ventricular system, which goes to the subarachnoid
space, where it is absorbed by the blood vessels.
The Human Brain
It has one pair known as the lateral ventricles.
Looks like a rams horn.
Lateral ventricles merge together to become the third ventricle.
Where is the first and the second ventricle?
They are the lateral ventricles.
The third ventricle has a canal known as the cerebral aqueduct.
The fourth ventricle is the one that gets out of the brain.
The choroid plexus is in the lateral ventricles.
II. Development of the CNS
Early Development
You need to know the 3 embryonic layers :
Ectoderm (outer layer), mesoderm (middle layer), and the
endoderm (the inner layer.)
The CNS is derived from the outer layer.
Ectoderm forms neural tubes, which form into the CNS.
The ectoderm forms the neural crest, which forms into the PNS.

In the early developmental stage, the neural plate folds in and forms the
neural tube.
When the neural plate folds in, the sides form the neural crest.
Primary Brain Vesicles
From the embryonic stage, you can find three primary brain vesicles.
Prosencephalon (forebrain), mesencephalon (midbrain) and
rhombencephalon (hindbrain)
Known which brain structure each vesicle forms into.
Summary and brain comparisons
Known all the different structures.
Refer to the ppt. slide.
The dorsal portion is called the thalamus.
The ventral portion is the hypothalamus.
The inside of the telencephalon, you can find the basal telencephalon and
the olfactory bulb (connected to the telencephalon.)
The dorsal portion of the mid brain is called tectum and the ventral potion is
the tegmentum.
The high brain ahs the cerebellum and the pons, which are connected to the
spinal cord.
You also need to know the ventricular system and know which level each
ventricular system is at.
Where can you find the lateral ventricles?
Quiz
The third ventricle is in the level of the diencephalon.
The nervous system is composed of the CNS and the PNS.
The CNS is divided into the brain and the spinal cord.
Within the nervous system, there are three primary brain vesicles.
o Forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain.
Within the forebrain, there is the telencephalon, which contains the olfactory
bulb, cerebral cortex and the basal telencephalon.
The diencephalon contains the thalamus and the hypothalamus.
The optic vesicles.

Within the mid brain, the dorsal portion (tectum) and the ventral portion
(tegmentum.)
Within the high brain, you can find the cerebellum, the pons, and the
medulla.
The PNS has two divisions the ANS and the somatic system.
The somantic has most of the cranial and the spinal nerves.
The visceral has the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves.
Also know the ventricular system.
Lateral ventricles at the level of the forebrain.
Third ventricles at the diencephalon.
Similarities and Differences
Similarities between the rat brain and the human brain.
Two hemispheres.
Presence of the cerebellum.
Anything you can find in the rat brain, you can find in the human brain
because they are both mammals and have the fundamental structure of the
mammal brains.
Differences -:
The olfactory bulb in rats is bigger.
There are a lot of grooves and bumps in the human brain, where
the rat brain is basically flat.
o Increases the brain surface area.
o If you look from the top view of the brain, the human brain
shows only the cerebrum.

It means that it is extremely developed in the brain.

III. The cerebral cortex

Types of cerebral cortex
The mammalian cortex has six layers and is extensive.
Neocortex is found only in mammals.
Four lobes of Neocortex
There are four lobes.
Central sulcus separates the frontal lobe from the parietal lobe.

The Sylvian fissure separates the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe and
the temporal lobe.
The entire brain can be divided into 52 areas known as Brodmanns areas.
In the frontal lobe, you can find the motor cortex.