Physiology

Review: Neurophysiology
Well as last year Im trying to make a final document useful for me and the entire class to rehearse all those main concepts we may find at the final exam, but I want to be clear: this year I do not have topic to focus on, I just have books chapters. Hence Ill try to underline fundamentals and explain some of those tricky chapters you may find, I cant make a sort of passe-partout file, but reading these pages would probably help you passing the exam.

(Based on Guytons and personal extras)

General design of the Nervous System: CNS vs. PNS To start properly this work I think is better to clarify some key arguments, just pointing some definitions: CNS: Central Nervous System, made of the nevraxis, e.g.: brain and spinal cord PNS: Peripheral Nervous System, made of spinal and cranial nerves And here I mention also how this network interact: 1. Sensory (Afferent) Division - TO the CNS Somatic afferents - from skin, muscle, joints Visceral afferents - from membranes & organs 2. Motor (Efferent) Division - FROM the CNS Somatic Nervous System (Voluntary) - to skeletal muscles Autonomic Nervous System (Involuntary) - to organs & glands i. Sympathetic Division ii. Parasympathetic Division Just to be clearer for those not in confidences with these terms: Somatic: related to the body, mainly to portions of the body related to the environment, arms, legs, skin and so on Visceral: related to bodys organs and membranes, or portions of the body we do not have a proper consciousness.

Now that our basement is built up, it would be better to revisit those concepts of first years general physiology studies about neurons, or at least this is what I suggest you to get a better reading of what follows.

So to finish this chapter: a special feature of most synapses is the forward direction (Axon->dendrites), and activities are initiated by experiences that excite sensory receptors. Information arriving to the CNS pass through all nevraxis; spinal cord, medulla, pons, cerebellum until thalamus and cortex. Later if required effectors from the CNS take the opposite route triggering bodily activities. The response to environmental excitements has to be appropriate to the situation in which we are moving or talking and so on, so the human nervous system has acquired an integrative function. For example usually we do not care about feelings given by a shirt on our skin or how are arranged things in our domestic panorama, but if something occurs in the daily activities (a new step in the stairs, a new position of objects) it will be focused and elaborated. However, it is important to point out here that some synapses are easier than others, and also some other mechanisms participate to facilitate or inhibit signals for modeling the precise response. Also the storage of information (memory) is performed by synapses, and the more a signal follow the same route the more this route will be facilitated, in order to keep in mind that feeling/action. Some times these patterns are so much facilitated that we can get the perception of the real event when it is only its memories. Once memories are stored in the brain they will become part of the more complicated process of thinking, comparing an experience to one other. Major Levels of NS functions: Neuronal circuits in the cord can cause: Walking movements Reflexes for pain reacting Reflexes of contraction in response to gravity or weight lifting Reflexes acting on various visceral activities

Lower brain is capable to control subconscious activities like arterial pressure, equilibrium, salivation, and many emotional and sex connected stimuli. Higher brain is first of all a storage place for information, but also here functions are converted to precise and controlled stimuli. Finally the cortical portion is essential for thinking processes. This is why in our book I found total useless sub-chapter that compares our nervous system to a computer What a waist of Ink! Central Nervous System Synapses: Types of synapses: Chemical and Electrical, nothing new The only thing to remark of this sub-chapter is that chemical type transmits only from the presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic one, in one way only compared to the possibilities of electric type. At this point I got to jump some of the following subchapters, I mean the mechanism of pre to post synaptic neurons is written much more complicated than it really is: an action potential cannot cross the synaptic cleft between neurons. Instead chemicals called neurotransmitters carry the nerve impulse. In the following way: 1. At the end of the pre-synaptic neurone there are voltage-gated calcium channels. When an action potential reaches the synapse these channels open, causing calcium ions to flow into the cell. 2. These calcium ions cause the synaptic vesicles to fuse with the cell membrane, releasing their contents (the neurotransmitter chemicals) by exocytosis. 3. The neurotransmitters diffuse across the synaptic cleft. 4. The neurotransmitter binds to the neuro-receptors in the post- synaptic membrane, causing the channels to open. In the example shown these are sodium channels, so sodium ions flow in. 5. This causes a depolarization of the post-synaptic cell membrane, which may initiate an action potential, if the threshold is reached. 6. A specific enzyme in the synaptic cleft breaks down the neurotransmitter; for example the enzyme acetylcholinesterase breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The breakdown products are absorbed by the pre-synaptic neurone by endocytosis and used to re-synthesize more neurotransmitter, using energy from the mitochondria. This stops the synapse being permanently on.

 The human nervous system uses a number of different neurotrans mitter and neuro- receptors, and they dont all work in the same way. We can group synapses into 5 types: 1. Excitatory Ion Channel Synapses. These synapses have neuroreceptors that are sodium channels. When the channels open, positive ions flow in, causing a local depolarization and making an action potential more likely. This was the kind of synapse described above. Typical neurotransmitters are acetylcholine, glutamate or aspartate. 2. Inhibitory Ion Channel Synapses. These synapses have neuroreceptors that are chloride channels. When the channels open, negative ions flow in causing a local hyperpolarization and making an action potential less likely. So with these synapses an impulse in one neuron can inhibit an impulse in the next. Typical neurotransmitters are glycine or GABA. 3. Non Channel Synapses. These synapses have neuroreceptors that are not channels at all, but instead are membrane-bound enzymes. When activated by the neurotransmitter, they catalyze the production of a messenger chemical inside the cell, which in turn can affect many aspects of the cells metabolism. In particular they can alter the number and sensitivity of the ion channel receptors in the same cell. These synapses are involved in slow and long- lasting responses like learning and memory. Typical

neurotransmitters are adrenaline, noradrenaline (NB adrenaline is called epinephrine in America), dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, angiotensin, and acetylcholine. 4. Neuromuscular Junctions. These are the synapses formed between motor neurones and muscle cells. They always use the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and are always excitatory. Motor neurons also form specialized synapses with secretory cells. 5. Electrical Synapses In these synapses the membranes of the two cells actually touch, and they share proteins. This allows the action potential to pass directly from one membrane to the next. They are very fast, but are quite rare, found only in the heart and the eye. The Space Summation in neurons: it only states that, as in the picture below, simultaneous firing of only few synapses will not cause a sufficient summated potential to reach the action potential. This is just because only one presynaptic terminal carries only a few neurotransmitter substances. Hence we can find also a kind of summation called Temporal, it states only that more opening of the pre-S- channel we find in a shorter period of time can give a higher stimulations of the post region, thats it! Then if this temporal summation is repeated it wills works first but it will lead to a stress to both pre and post neurons, leading their fatigue. This process gives
protection to the system to over excitations and exaggerated stress. Also High blood pH raise excitability while low pH greatly decreases it. Hypoxia in few seconds can cause inexcitability and some drugs can give us both the effects described before.

Thats it for the 1 review hope it would be useful for you, buddies This argument is the nervous system, but this name does not belong to the brain but to its main feature: it makes us nervous! Your beloved, nervously, colleague, Alessandro Motta.