Anatomy and Physiology Final ( part 3)
What is a visceral reflex?
- This is often termed an autonomic reflex and involves the brain for integration. Examples of this include digestion, increasing heart and respiratory rate or salivation
What is the hypothalamus?
- an integrating center that helps the body to maintain homeostasis a. Autonomic Nervous System Control center b. Emotions and the effect emotions can have on the body c. Body Temperature Regulation - the body's thermostat d. Food and Water Intake Regulation - the thirst and hunger center e. Sleep-Wake Cycles f. Endocrine function - major control over pituitary gland - The hypothalamus serves as a link to the nervous system as well. It produces many hormones and also controls the secretion of hormones from other organs and glands.
What is the Medulla Oblongata?
- contains many reflex centers or involuntary centers - a. decussation of pyramids - crossing to opposite side - b. involuntary centers i. cardiovascular regulates heart rate and blood pressure ii. respiratory regulates breathing with additional input from the pons iii. sneezing, coughing, swallowing, vomiting
What is a somatic reflex?
- involves only the spinal cord and does not involve the brain. It is very rapid and can be used to assess if the CNS is working properly. For example, the patellar reflex is often tested. If the patellar tendon is stretched (hit with a small pointed instrument) and the leg extends at the knee, this knee-jerk reflex indicates normal CNS function is occurring
What is the function of Reticular Formation (Reticular Activating System)?
- maintains consciousness by connecting through diencephalon to cerebral cortex - helps maintain muscle tone with the cerebellum, helps the pons and medulla oblongata to regulate respiration, heart rate and blood pressure as well as processing sensory stimuli such as touch, sight and sound. - It also helps to maintain consciousness and concentration.
The Arbor vitae is?
- part of the cerebellum - has 2 hemispheres made of white matter and the center contains a long branched area of gray matter which is termed the Arbor vitae or "tree of life".
What is the function of the thalamus?
It serves as a sensory "relay center" for all senses except smell (olfaction) by integrating information and sending it to the appropriate part of the cerebrum. Therefore, it connects the cerebrum to the rest of the nervous system. - The thalamus consists of 2 masses of gray matter in the center of the brain
What is the Integration center?
Within the central nervous system, the information from the sensory neuron synapses and is therefore integrated or processed.
The 5 components to a reflex arc are?
a receptor, sensory input to the CNS, integration within the CNS, motor output from the CNS to the effector organ
What is the function of pons?
a. regulation of breathing
What is a reflex?
an automatic involuntary response to changes in or out of the body. They are protective to help maintain homeostasis in the human body. They are rapid, predictable and produce the same response each time and involuntary in nature
What is the function of the Sensory neuron?
communicates the information from the stimulus to the central nervous system.
What is the function of the Diencephalon?
links the cerebrum to remainder of nervous and endocrine systems. It consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus and the pineal gland (also termed epithalamus)
What is the epithalmus ( Pineal Gland)?
located posterior to the thalamus and secretes the hormone melatonin.
What is the function of melatonin?
regulates the daily body rhythms or your biological clock.
What does the midbrain do?
serves as a relay station for information passing between the cerebrum and spinal cord or the cerebellum. It contains the corpora quadrigemina. The superior colliculi are responsible for the visual reflex and the inferior colliculi are responsible for the auditory reflex
What are the corpora quadrigemina (also called the quadrigeminal body?
the four colliculi—two inferior, two superior —located on the dorsal aspect of the midbrain i. superior colliculi-visual reflex ii. inferior colliculi-auditory reflex
What is the effector organ?
the organ, muscle or gland that receives the information from the motor neuron. It will either contract or relax based upon the type of signal it receives from the motor neuron.
What is the function of the motor neuron?
- After integration, the motor or efferent neuron carries information from the central nervous system to the effector organ or muscle.
What is the brainstem?
The brain stem contains involuntary control centers and connects brain to spinal cord. It contains the midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata and reticular formation.
What is a receptor?
the component that detects a stimulus.
