Nervous System

in humans
All the organs of your body depend on
each other to perform a function.

Hence, the activities that occur inside

your body require a proper
coordination between these organs.

For example, when you have food,

your nose smells the food, your eyes
help to locate the food, your hands
bring the food to the mouth, the jaw
muscles and the teeth chew and
masticate the food and the saliva
lubricates and initiates the process of
digestion.

All these activities occur in a

coordinated manner.
The organ system that brings about
coordination and integration of different
body activities is called the nervous
system.

It is a complex network of nerves that

carry messages to and from the brain
and spinal cord to various parts of the
body.

Most responses of the body to the

outside world and the functioning of
various systems are controlled by the
nervous system.

We will learn about the nervous system

in human beings in detail in this chapter.
Neuron or nerve cell
A neuron or nerve cell: basic structural and functional unit of the
nervous system.
It is the longest cell in the body. Messages are received and
transmitted to all parts of the body through neurons. The human
brain is estimated to have about 100 billion neurons.

A neuron has three parts - cell body, axon and dendrites.

The cell body called cyton contains the nucleus. Many short fibres
called dendrons arise from the cell body. They further divide to form
dendrites. Dendrites receive messages from other neurons.

A single, long fibre called axon extends from the other side of the cell
body. It is covered by a sheath called myelin sheath.

Axon is the most important part of the neuron. It carries messages

from the cell body of one neuron to another.

Messages travel along the nerve cells in the form of a wave of

chemical disturbance called an impulse. An impulse is like an
electrical signal.
Motor neurons are located in the central nervous
system. A motor neuron is a nerve cell in which the
cell body is located in the spinal cord while the axon
fibre is projected outside the spinal cord to control
effector organs such as muscles.
They carry messages from the spinal cord to the
effector organ to bring about the effects. One motor
neuron may connect many muscle fibres because it
is multipolar, that is, each nerve cell has a single
axon and many dendrites.

Synapse - the gap between two neurons. Neurons

do not come in direct contact with each other. They
communicate with one another via synapses
wherein the axon terminal of one neuron lies very
close to the dendrites of another neuron.

A synapse is a junction where communication

between two neurons occurs.
Nerves
Nerve cells or neurons are joined
end to end forming a nerve.

A nerve consists of a cord-like

structure with a number of nerve
fibres bundled together like the
strands of a telephone cable.

Types of nerves: There are three

kinds of nerves depending upon
the direction in which they
transmit an impulse.
Sensory nerves:
These are the nerves that carry
messages (impulses) from the
sense organs to either the spinal
cord or the brain.

They contain only sensory fibres.

For example, the optic nerve that

sends messages from the eye to
the brain is a sensory nerve.
Motor nerves: These nerves
carry messages in the form of
responses from the brain or
spinal cord to other parts of the
body such as muscles and
glands.

They contain only motor fibres.

For example, nerves arising

from the brain leading to
muscles of the nerves. eye
balls are motor.
Mixed nerves: These nerves perform
the function of both sensory nerves
as well as motor nerves.

They transmit electrical impulses from

the central nervous system to the
muscles of the body.

They contain both sensory and motor

fibres.

For example, the nerve that transmits

messages to the tongue is a mixed
nerve.
Based on the place from where
they arise, nerves are of two
types.

→ Cranial nerves: These

nerves arise from the brain and
reach organs in the head
region. There are 12 pairs of
cranial nerves in the body.

→ Spinal nerves: These

nerves arise from the spinal
cord and reach various parts of
the body. There are 31 pairs of
spinal nerves in the body.
Nervous system in humans

The nervous system in

humans is categorised into:
• the central nervous
system (CNS),
• the peripheral nervous
system (PNS) and
• the autonomic nervous
system (ANS).

We will learn only about

central nervous system in
this chapter
Central nervous system
The central nervous system
consists of the brain and the
spinal cord.
It is the control centre for all
body functions. It is the site
for all information processing
in the body.
It is responsible for
processing every sensation
and thought a human being
experiences.
Brain
The brain is the main control centre of the
nervous system. The human brain is a highly
developed organ and is situated in the
cranium of the skull.
In an adult, it weighs about 1200 g to 1400 g,
about 2 per cent of the body weight. It
controls your thinking, feelings, movement
and senses.
The brain is enveloped by three membranes
called meninges. The membranes have a
fluid called cerebrospinal fluid between them.
The cerebrospinal fluid nourishes the brain
and protects it from shocks by absorbing
them.
The brain is divided into three regions:
cerebrum, cerebellum and medulla
oblongata.
Cerebrum: It is the uppermost,
largest and the most prominent
part of the brain.
It fills most of the skull. It is
highly convoluted in appearance
with ridges and grooves.
The ridges and grooves increase
the surface area to
accommodate more nerve cells.
Cerebrum is divided into the
right and left cerebral
hemispheres with a deep furrow
in between.
It is responsible for the
sensation of pain, temperature,
touch, sight, sound, taste and
smell.
It also controls mental activities
such as memory, intelligence,
thinking and reasoning.
Cerebellum: It is a small,
egg-shaped lobe located at
the base under the
cerebrum.

It does not have

convolutions, but has many
furrows.

It helps in the muscle

coordination and balance
of the body.
Medulla oblongata:
It is the lowermost part of the
brain located at the base of
the skull.
It is like the stem of the brain.
It emerges out from the base
of the brain and is continued
as the spinal cord in the
posterior region.
It controls breathing,
heartbeat, coughing, sneezing
and other involuntary
functions.
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is the continuation of the
medulla oblongata of the brain. It is like a
cord that emerges from a hole at the
base of the skull and runs through the
vertebral column.
Like the brain, the spinal cord is also
protected by the meninges with
cerebrospinal fluid within it.
A cross-section of the spinal cord shows
two similar halves fused together to form
a small canal in the centre called central
canal. It also contains the cerebrospinal
fluid.
The central canal is surrounded by an H-
shaped area called grey matter. It
consists of cell bodies of neurons. The
outer portion is the white matter which
consists of nerve fibres.
Functions:
The spinal cord
conducts reflexes
below the neck.
It conducts sensory
impulses from the skin
and muscles to the
brain.
It conducts motor
responses from the
brain to the muscles of
the trunk and limbs.
Reflex action
The spinal cord controls some actions
that do not involve the brain. For
example, if you step on a sharp object,
you instantly withdraw your foot.
This reaction is automatic and does not
involve thinking about it. It is called a
reflex action. Thus, an automatic,
spontaneous and mechanical response
to a stimulus controlled by the spinal
cord without the involvement of the
brain is called a reflex action.
The nerve pathway of a reflex action is
called a reflex arc. The reflex arc
involves three neurons - sensory
neurons, association neurons and
motor neurons
First, a stimulus triggers an impulse in a receptor, which could be any
sensory organ or structure that receives the stimulus.

The impulse then travels from the receptor through a sensory neuron to the
spinal cord.

In the spinal cord, it passes through an association neuron to a motor

neuron and finally reaches the muscles of an effector organ.

The muscles of the effector organ contract moving it away from the
stimulus
Some common examples of reflex
action are:
Sneezing when an unwanted
particle enters the nose.
Blinking of eyes when a foreign
particle enters the eye.
Immediate withdrawal of hand if
you unknowingly touch a hot object.
Withdrawal of leg if you suddenly
step on a nail while walking
barefoot.
Knee jerk reflex in response to
tapping under the knee.
Peripheral nervous system

It consists of nerves arising

from the brain and spinal
cord.
As already mentioned, these
are of two types, namely,
cranial nerves and spinal
nerves.
These nerves link the central
nervous system with various
parts of the body.
At times, they are large and
visible to the human eye.
Autonomic nervous system

The autonomic nervous system

(ANS) controls all the involuntary
actions, which include internal body
functions such as the heart beat,
movement of muscles of the
stomach, intestines and so on.
The medulla controls these vital
body functions.
To accomplish all involuntary tasks,
the autonomic nervous system
(ANS) uses its two networks:
sympathetic and parasympathetic
systems.
How do messages reach the
brain?

The peripheral nervous system

transmits messages to and from
the sense organs and is
responsible for voluntary actions
such as cycling, swimming and
so on.
Incoming messages enter the
spinal cord from all parts of the
body and reach the brain, which
sends back the messages to
various body parts through the
spinal cord.
Sense organs

There is a close coordination

between the central nervous
system and the sense organs.
Stimuli such as heat, sound and
light are detected by different
receptors.
Receptors are special cells
present in the sense organs that
receive a stimulus from the
environment.
These sense organs are
responsible for the reception of
stimuli of sight, sound, smell, taste
and touch.
Each sense organ is directly
connected with the brain.
There are five sense organs
in the human body- eye, ear,
nose, tongue and skin.

These sense organs are

connected to the brain
through different nerves.

For example, the eye is

connected to the brain
through the optic nerve; and
the ear is connected to the
brain through acoustic nerve.
Answer the following questions
1. All the organs of your body depend on each other to perform a _________.

2. Which sense organs would be involved in following activities:

a. Attending classes
b. Eating food
c. Doing homework
d. Driving car
e. Painting.
f. Dancing
g. Singing
h. Teaching
i. Typing
j. Listening

3. What do you understand by nervous system?

4. What does the nervous system control?

5. What is a neuron? Draw a well labelled diagram of neuron.

Answer the following questions on a separate sheet:
1. What are the types of nerves in humans? Give example of each.
2. Which nerves contain both sensory and motor fibres?
3. Which are the different types of muscles?
4. Based on the place from where they ______, nerves are of two types.
5. ____________nerves arise from the brain and reach organs in the head region.
6. What is the number of cranial nerves?
7. __________nerves arise from the spinal cord and reach various parts of the body
8. What is the number of spinal nerves?
9. Draw a flow chart explaining the nervous system in humans.
10. What is the function of central nervous system?
Answer the following questions on a separate sheet:
1. Write a short note on the brain. What is the function of cerebellum?
2. What are meninges? What is cerebrospinal fluid?
3. Give five examples of reflex actions.
4. Which are the types of nerves as seen earlier?
5. Write a short not on spinal cord.