BBT 221

TSHq
Lecture 4
Topic 4: Nervous system
(Vander, chapter 6, and Silverthorn, chapter 8)
* Automated nervous system is
divided into sympathetic (fight or
flight responses) and
parasympathetic (resting responses)
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

The nervous system is divided into two parts:

1. The central nervous system: Refers to the brain and the spinal cord

2. The peripheral nervous system: Refers to the nerve cells (called neurons) that
connect the bran and spinal cord to our muscles, glands, and sense organs.

There are two types of cells that make up the nervous system:

1. Nerve cells: Also called neurons. These have very specialized

structures and transmit electric impulses

2. Glial cells: These are supporting cells that help the neurons. There
are many types of glial cells.
 WHAT ARE NEURONS?
- Neurons are the basic unit of the nervous system
- These are very specialized cells which can be very long (often more than 1 metre), while some are very short.
- Throughout our life, most neurons generally do not undergo mitosis to form new neurons. So we are born with all
the neurons we’ll have.
- However, neurons can grow and repair themselves even though they do not divide into new cells.

- The cell body of a neuron contains the nucleus and ribosomes

- Dendrites are a series of highly branched outgrowths. The

dendrites and the cell body receive electrical input (from other
Efferent (motor) neuron neurons or from sense organ).

- The axon is a long extension from the cell body that carries the
electrical impulse. Also called “nerve fiber”. It branches out near
the end

- The axon terminals are the ends of the axon branches, which
release neurotransmitters to pass on the electric impulses to the
next cells. The next cells are either another neuron, or an
effector cell like muscles or glands.

Afferent (sensory) neuron

NEURONS AND SYNAPSES

- The Gap between two neurons is called synapses. These are also very
specialized

- The signal is transmitted across a synapse by chemicals

called neurotransmitters.
Axon terminal - Efferent neurons can also send neurotransmitters to
communicate with effector cells (e.g., a muscle cell).
Cell body - In most cases, a synapse occurs between an axon terminal of one
neuron and a dendrite or the cell body of a second
neuron.
- The neuron before the synapse is called the pre-synaptic
neuron. It releases neurotransmitters
Dendrite - The neuron after the synapse, which receives
neurotransmitters, is called the post-synaptic neuron
- in a multineuronal pathway, a single neuron can be
postsynaptic to one cell and presynaptic to another.

- More about neurotransmitters and synapses next class.

NEURON SHRINKAGE/LOSS NEURON REGENERATION
- If axons are severed, they can repair
• Mature neurons do not have the ability to undego themselves and restore significant function
mitosis - However, the neuron may not be able to
repair itself if the damage was on the cell
• Normally, in 75 years (660,000 hours), a loss of only body or inside the
0.66 percent of the total number of neurons present - The growth starts from the part still attached
to the cell body. This is a very slow process,
at birth is seen. around 1 mm growth per day.
• Over time, neurons shrink or are lost as aging - This process is helped by neurotrophins (next
few slides).
progresses
• Environmental factors: accidents, drug use, can
increase the rate of either cell shrinkage or cell loss.
• During the development of the nervous system,
almost 70% of the neurons undergo APOPTOSIS
(programmed cell destruction), probably as a form of
fine-tuning the nervous system
FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF NEURONS
There are three types of neurons according to their functions:

1. Afferent neurons: Convey information from the tissues and organs of the body into the central nervous
system. Their cell body does not branch out into dendrites and the axon branches out in two
directions from the cell body. Usually, the cell body and the long axon are outside the CNS, and only
a part of the axon enters the brain or spinal cord

2. Efferent neurons: Convey information from the central nervous system out to effector cells like muscle,
gland, or other nerve cells. Usually, cell bodies and dendrites of efferent neurons are within the CNS,
and the axons extend out to the PNS

3. Interneurons: Connect neurons within the central nervous system. Usually have shorter axons. Entire
cell is in CNS.
Usually, impulses begin from the afferent
neuron after a sense organ receives a
stimulus. Then the impulses are transmitted
to the interneurons, which then transmit
them to the efferent neuron. More complex
interactions involve more interneurons, and
some very simple reflex reactions may go
directly from afferent to efferent neurons
without ever involving interneurons
STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF NEURONS
- We can also classify neurons based on their structural differences
- This is done based on the number of extensions different types of neurons have
- Four groups based on structural classification

1. Multipolar: many dendrites and branched

axons. Interneurons and efferent neurons can
be multipolar Anaxomic

2. Pseudounipolar: the cell body located off

one side of a single long extension that is Dendrites
called the axon. Dendrites do not extend from
cell body. Afferent neurons can be
pseudounipolar

3. Bipolar: A single axon and single dendrite

Soma
coming off the cell body. Afferent neurons can
be bipolar

4. Anaxomic: lack an identifiable axon but have

numerous branched dendrites. Interneurons
can be anaxomic
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL CLASSES OF NEURONS

(Afferent)
GLIAL CELLS
- Even though they are longer and more branched and so take up more space, neurons are only 10% of our nervous system
cells!
- The rest are GLIAL cells, which are supporting cells for the neurons
- Around half the mass of the brain is made of glial cells.
- There are many types of glial cells, and they each have various functions
- They are found surrounding the soma (cell body), axons and dendrites to provide physical and metabolic support
- Specific glial cells found in CNS and PNS.

We will now look at

some of the important
glial cells and their
roles in the nervous
system. Most of them
are in the CNS.

* Note: Some glial cells can

undergo mitosis, some cannot.
ROLES OF DIFFERENT GLIAL CELLS
1. Astrocytes:
- Helps regulate the composition of the extracellular
fluid in the CNS by removing potassium ions and
neurotransmitters around synapses

- Formation of tight junctions between the cells of

the blood capillary walls in the CNS. This creates the
BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER which prevent toxic
substances in the blood from leaking out into the
brain.

- Provides glucose to and removes ammonia from

neurons
3. Schwann Cells
2. Oligodendrocytes - Forms the myelin layer around the axons of the PNS. This helps
- Forms the myelin layer around the axons of the CNS. impulses travel faster along the neurons
This helps impulses travel faster along the neurons
- A special type of Schwann cell is called satellite cells, which form
supportive capsules around nerve cell bodies (these do not form
myelin)
4. Microglia
- Macrophage-like cell that performs 5. Ependymal cells
immune functions in the CNS. - Line the fluid-filled cavities within the brain and spinal
cord and regulate the production and flow of
NEUROTROPHINS

- Neurotrophins or neurotrophic factors are small proteins

- Secreted by some glial cells (mainly astrocytes and Schwann cells), and even some neurons themselves
- They help help to maintain certain neurons by playing roles in their grow and differentiation, and also in the regeneration
of damaged neurons
- They can be thought of as paracrine (and sometimes autocrine) agents in the nervous system

- Some examples of neurotrophins include:

* Nerve growth factor (NGF)
* Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
* Glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)
* Neurotrophin-3
* Neurotrophin-4
* Neurotrophin-5
POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE
- A potential difference (or just “potential”) is the difference in
the amount of charge between two areas. It occurs from a
separation of charges.
- The unit to measure potential difference is called “volts” (V).
- In biological systems, the potential differences are very small,
so we measure them in mV (millivolts).
- When there is a potential difference, opposite charges will
usually move as they are attracted to each other.
- This movement of charges is called a current

MEMBRANE POTENTIAL
- The intracellular fluid of a cell has a different ion concentration
than the interstitial fluid.
- The outside and inside of the cell therefore has a difference in
charge.
- The two sides of the membrane are in electrical disequilibrium.
- So, there is a potential difference on the two sides of a cell
membrane.
- This potential difference at any given time is called the MEMBRANE
POTENTIAL
- It can be measured in volts.
RESTING MEMBRANE POTENTIAL
- When a cell is at rest and everything is stable (there is no stimulus),
its membrane potential is called the “RESTING MEMBRANE
POTENTIAL”
- For most cells, including nerve cells and muscle cells, the resting
membrane potential is around – 70 mV.
- This means that the INSIDE of the cell is 70 mV more negative than
the outside of the cell
- Why and how is the inside of the cell more negative?  Remember
the Na+/K+ pump, which pumps out 3 positive charges (Na+) and
pumps in only 2 positive charges (K+).
- The Na+/K+ pump is one of the things that ensures the inside of the
cell remains negative compared to the outside. Ion channels also
- At rest, there are more negative ions on the inside of
help maintain resting membrane potential
- Besides Na+ and K+, the movement of Cl- also contributes to this the cell, more positive ions on the outside of the cell.
- The opposite charges attract and collect around the
membrane
- This area around the membrane therefore has a
small potential difference.
- Most of the fluids everywhere else are usually overall
neutral
- Ion movement across the membrane will depend on
electric gradient, concentration gradient and
membrane permeability.
 ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY IN AXONS
- When the membrane potential of a cell changes from resting potential, electric signals are produced.
- This happens due to a change in the movement of ions across the cell’s membrane.
- If we place a voltmeter to detect the changes in the membrane potential (ie- measure how different the charges inside the
cell is compared to the outside), we can detect these changes.
- The resting potential is -70 mV. This can change in several ways after the neuron is excited (stimulated).

1. DEPOLARIZATION: The membrane potential can

become more positive (closer to 0). This means the
potential difference has been reduced as the
voltage inside of the cell is closer to the voltage
outside of the cell

2. REPOLARIZATION: The membrane potential comes

back to the resting potential (of around -70 mV)

3. HYPERPOLARIZATION: The membrane potential

becomes even more negative than the resting
potential. The potential difference between the
inside and outside of the cell has increased.

4. OVERSHOOT: Membrane potential reversed. Inside

more positive than outside.
GRADED POTENTIAL
- When a stimulus is detected, a cell membrane’s ion channels
will open/close and change the cell’s permeability to different
ions to change
- This causes different ions to enter/leave and the membrane
potential to change by a small amount of depolarization or
hyperpolarization
- The change in membrane potential is confined to a small region
only.
- The cell becomes repolarized soon and no signal is transmitted.
A small section of the cell got depolarized/hyperpolarized, and
then repolarized again, and that’s it. The stimulus was not big
enough to initiate electrical impulses across the cell.
- These are called GRADED POTENTIALS
- A single graded potential usually dies out and does not cause a
response.

- However, if additional stimuli occur before the graded

potential has died away, these can be added to the
depolarization from the first stimulus.
- This process is called summation.
- If the resulting potential difference (ie- voltage) is high
enough, it leads to an ACTION POTENTIAL
ACTION POTENTIAL
- Nerve and muscle cells as well as some endocrine, immune, and reproductive cells have plasma
membranes capable of producing action potentials. These are called EXCITABLE MEMBRANES.
- If the membrane is depolarized to around 55 mV, the signal is usually strong enough to cause a response through an ACTION
POTENTIAL
- This minimum voltage needed to be reached for an action potential is called the THRESHOLD POTENTIAL. Only a strong
enough stimulus will cause this so we are not reacting to every small random thing.
- An action potential will cause an electric impulse to travel along the cell and then be passed on to the next cell, eventually
causing a response. This is the long-distance “electric messaging system” of our nervous system

Once the membrane potential reaches the threshold value,

it is depolarized and then overshoots to a “peak” value. This
is called an action potential.

Then it is repolarized and there is a period of

hyperpolarization called the refractory period. No more
action potentials can be generated during this time.

Finally, resting membrane potential is restored.