CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

BERNARD MBITHI
 Central nervous system
• Neural control center
• Receives electrical information from the
internal and external environments
• Analyses and integrates information then
initiates appropriate action
• Composed of the spinal cord and brain
• The brain and spinal cord are surrounded
by membranes called meninges that lie
between the bone and the soft tissues
 The brain
• Organized into several basic parts:
–Brain stem
–Cerebellum
–Diencephalon
–Cerebrum
 Table 5.3 (1)Cerebral cortex
Cerebral cortex

Page 144 Basal nuclei

(lateral to thalamus)
Basal nuclei

Thalamus
(medial) Thalamus

Diencephalon
Hypothalamus
Hypothalamus
Cerebellum
Cerebellum

Midbrain
(Mesencephalon) Brain stem
Brain stem Pons (midbrain, pons,
and medulla)
Medulla
oblongata

Spinal cord
 Cerebrum
• The cerebrum is the largest portion of
the mature brain, consisting of two
cerebral hemispheres.
• A deep ridge of nerve fibers called the
corpus callosum connects the
hemispheres.
• The surface of the brain is marked by
convolutions, sulci, and fissures.

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 Cerebrum
• The lobes of the brain are named
according to the bones they underlie and
include the frontal lobe, parietal lobe,
temporal lobe, occipital lobe, and insula.
• A thin layer of gray matter, the cerebral
cortex, lies on the outside of the
cerebrum and contains 75% of the cell
bodies in the nervous system.

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 Cerebrum

• Beneath the cortex lies a mass of white

matter made up of myelinated nerve
fibers connecting the cell bodies of the
cortex with the rest of the nervous
system.

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 Functions of the cerebrum
• The cerebrum provides higher brain
functions, such as interpretation of
sensory input, initiating voluntary
muscular movements, memory, and
integrating information for reasoning.
• The cerebral cortex contains three kinds
of functional areas: motor areas, sensory
areas, and association areas.

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 Functions of the cerebrum

• Each hemisphere is chiefly concerned

with the sensory and motor functions of
the opposite (contralateral) side of the
body.
• The two hemispheres are not entirely
equal in function - there is specialization
of cortical functions.
Motor areas
 Cerebral Cortex- Motor areas
• Control voluntary movement, lie in the
posterior part of the frontal lobes:
primary motor cortex, premotor cortex,
Broca’s area, and the frontal eye field.
• Broca’s area, anterior to the primary
motor cortex, coordinates muscular
activity to make speech possible.

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 Primary (somatic) motor cortex
• Located in the frontal lobe of each
hemisphere
• Large neurons, called pyramidal cells, in
this area allow for conscious control of
the precise or skilled voluntary
movements of the skeletal muscles.
• Their axons project to the spinal cord,
forming the massive voluntary motor
tracts (pyramidal /corticospinal tracts)
 Primary (somatic) motor cortex
• The entire body is represented spatially
in the primary motor cortex of each
hemisphere, i.e the pyramidal cells that
control foot movements are in one place
and those that control hand movements
are in another.
• Such a mapping of the body in CNS
structures is called somatotopy
 Primary (somatic) motor cortex

• Most of the neurons in this area control

muscles in body areas having the most
precise motor control (the face, tongue,
and hands)
 Broca’s area
• Lies anterior to the inferior region of the
premotor area
• It is a special motor speech area that
directs the muscles involved in speech
production.
 Frontal eye field

• Located partially in and anterior to the

premotor cortex and superior to Broca’s
area
• Controls voluntary movement of the
eyes.
 Premotor cortex

• The memory bank for skilled motor

activities
• Controls learned motor skills of a
repetitious or patterned nature e.g
playing a musical instrument and typing
• Coordinates movement of several muscle
groups by sending activating impulses to
the primary motor cortex.
 Premotor cortex
• Also involved in planning movements
• Control voluntary actions that depend on
sensory feedback e.g moving an arm to
grasp a hidden object.
Sensory areas
 Sensory areas
• The sensory areas are located in several
areas of the cerebrum and interpret
sensory input, producing feelings or
sensations.
• Concerned with conscious awareness of
sensation, the sensory areas of the
cortex, parietal, temporal, and occipital
lobes

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 Primary somatosensory cortex
• In the parietal lobe, just posterior to the
primary motor cortex
• These neurons then receive information
from the general (somatic) sensory
receptors in the skin and from
proprioceptors (position sense receptors)
in skeletal muscles, joints, and tendons.
• The neurons then identify the body region
being stimulated, an ability called spatial
discrimination.
 Primary somatosensory cortex
• As with the primary motor cortex, the
body is represented spatially and upside-
down according to the site of stimulus
input, and the right hemisphere receives
input from the left side of the body.
 Primary somatosensory cortex
• The amount of sensory cortex devoted to
a particular body region is related to that
region’s sensitivity (that is, to how many
receptors it has), not to the size of the
body region.
• In humans, the face (especially the lips)
and fingertips are the most sensitive
body areas
 Somatosensory association cortex
• Lies just posterior to the primary
somatosensory cortex and has many
connections with it.
• Integrates sensory inputs e.g
temperature, pressure relayed to it via the
primary somatosensory cortex to produce
an understanding of an object being felt:
its size/texture and the relationship of its
parts.
 Somatosensory association cortex
• e.g, when one reaches into his pocket,
somatosensory association cortex draws
upon stored memories of past sensory
experiences to perceive the objects felt
as coins
 Visual areas
• In the occipital lobe
• The largest of all cortical sensory areas
• Receives visual information that
originates on the retina of the eye
 Auditory areas
• Located in the superior margin of the
temporal lobe
• Sound energy exciting the inner ear
hearing receptors causes impulses to be
transmitted to the primary auditory
cortex for interpretation
 Olfactory cortex
• On the temporal lobe
• Afferent fibers from smell receptors in
the superior nasal cavities send impulses
along the olfactory tracts that are relayed
to the olfactory cortices interpretation
 Gustatory cortex
• Involved in the perception of taste
stimuli
• Located temporal lobe
 Visceral sensory area
• Involved in conscious perception of
visceral sensations
• E.g upset stomach, full bladder, feeling
that lungs will burst when one holds
breath too long
 Vestibular (equilibrium) cortex
• Responsible for conscious awareness of
balance, i.e of the position of the head in
space
• In the temporal lobe.
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 Cerebral Cortex
• Sensory areas for sight - lie within the
occipital lobe.
• Sensory and motor fibers alike cross over
in the spinal cord or brain stem so centers
in the right hemisphere interpret or
control the left side of the body, and vice
versa

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 Cerebral Cortex
• The various association areas of the brain
analyze and interpret sensory impulses
and function in reasoning, judgment,
emotions, verbalizing ideas, and storing
memory.
 Cerebral cortex
• A general interpretive area is found at
the junction of the parietal, temporal,
and occipital lobes, and plays the primary
role in complex thought processing.

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 Multimodal association areas
• Gives meaning to the information
received and stores it in memory if
needed, tie it to previous experience and
knowledge after which a decision on the
action to take is arrived at
• Once the course of action has been
decided, those decisions are relayed to
the premotor cortex, which in turn
communicates with the motor cortex.
 Multimodal association areas

• Once the course of action has been

decided, those decisions are relayed to
the premotor cortex, which in turn
communicates with the motor cortex.
 Multimodal association areas
• E.g : If a bottle of acid falls and shatters,
one will hear the crash; feel the skin
burning and smell the acid fumes.
• These perceptions come together in the
multimodal association areas.
• Along with feelings of panic, these
perceptions are woven into a whole,
which recalls instructions about what to
do in this situation.
 Multimodal association areas
• As a result the premotor and primary
motor cortices direct one’s legs to propel
him/her to the safety shower.
• Broadly divided into ;
–Posterior association area
–Anterior association area
–Limbic association area
 Anterior association areas
• In the frontal lobe
• It is involved with intellect, complex
learning abilities (called cognition), recall,
and personality
• Contains working memory, necessary for
the production of abstract ideas,
judgment, reasoning, persistence, and
planning
 Posterior association area
• Encompasses parts of the temporal,
parietal, and occipital lobes
• Recognizing patterns and faces,
surroundings , and in binding different
sensory inputs into a coherent whole.
• Concerned with attention to an area of
space or an area of one’s own body, and
also understanding written and spoken
language.
 Limbic association area
• Provides the emotional impact
• Provides the sense of “danger”
• Establishes memories to remember an
incident.
 Hemisphere lateralization

• Lateralization: Ability of each hemisphere

to perform a unique abilities
 Hemisphere dominance
• Both cerebral hemispheres function in
receiving and analyzing sensory input
and sending motor impulses to the
opposite side of the body.
• The ability of one hemisphere to
dominate a task each task- Dominance
• Most people exhibit hemisphere
dominance for the language-related
activities of speech, writing, and reading.
 Epithalamus
• Forms the roof of the third ventricle.
• Extending from its posterior border and
visible externally is the pineal gland or
body
• The pineal gland secretes the hormone
melatonin (a sleep-inducing signal and
antioxidant and, along with hypothalamic
nuclei, helps regulate the sleep-wake
cycle.
 Diencephalon
• Lies above the brain stem
• Consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus,
and epithalamus

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 Thalamus
• Sorting and directing sensory information
arriving from other parts of the nervous
system, performing the services of both
messenger and editor.

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Hypothalamus
 Introduction
• The hypothalamus maintains
homeostasis by regulating a wide variety
of visceral activities and by linking the
endocrine system with the nervous
system.
• The main visceral control center of the
body and is vitally important to overall
body homeostasis
 Autonomic control center
• ANS is a system of peripheral nerves that
regulates cardiac and smooth muscle and
secretion by the glands.
• Hypothalamus regulates ANS activity by
controlling the activity of centers in the brain
stem and spinal cord
• Hypothalamus influences blood pressure,
rate/ contractility, digestive tract motility, eye
pupil size, and other visceral activities.
 Center for emotional response
• Nuclei involved in the perception of
pleasure, fear, and rage, as well as those
involved in biological rhythms and drives
(such as the sex drive), are found in the
hypothalamus
• The hypothalamus acts through ANS
pathways to initiate most physical
expressions of emotion, e.g tachycardia
,high bp ,sweating, and dry mouth.
 Body temperature regulation
• Hypothalamic neurons monitor blood
temperature and receive input from
other thermoreceptors in the brain and
body periphery.
• Accordingly, the hypothalamus initiates
cooling (sweating) or heat-generating
mechanisms (shivering) as needed to
maintain a relatively constant body
temperature
 Regulation of food intake
• In response to changing blood levels of
certain nutrients e.g glucose and amino
acids) or hormones , the hypothalamus
regulates feelings of hunger and satiety.
 Regulation of water balance and thirst
• Increased concentration of body fluids
activate hypothalamic neurons
(osmoreceptors)
• Osmoreceptors excite hypothalamic
nuclei leading to release of ADH, which
causes the kidneys to retain water. The
same conditions also stimulate the thirst
center, causing a feeling of thirsty, hence
water/fluid intake
 Regulation of sleep-wake cycles
• Acting with other brain regions, the
hypothalamus helps regulate sleep.
• Through the operation of its
suprachiasmatic nucleus (biological
clock), it sets the timing of the sleep
cycle in response to daylight-darkness
cues received from the visual pathways.
 Control of endocrine system
• Releasing hormones that control the
secretion of hormones by the anterior
pituitary gland.
• Regulates release of ADH and oxytocin
Limbic system
 Introduction
• The limbic system, in the area of the
diencephalon, controls emotional
experience and expression.
• By generating pleasant or unpleasant
feelings about experiences, the limbic
system guides behavior that may
enhance the chance of survival.
• Aggression --> lesions of amygdala
produce docility, while stimulation
results in rage and aggression
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 Limbic system
• Fear --> stimulation of amygdala and
hypothalamus can produce fear, while
ablation results in an absence of fear
• Goal-directed behaviour - reward and
punishment system- stimulation of certain
areas function as a reward, while
stimulation of other areas results in a
punishment shock
 Brain Stem
• Lies at the base of the cerebrum
• Connects the brain to the spinal cord
• Consists of the midbrain, pons, and
medulla oblongata

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Pons
 Introduction
• Lies between the midbrain and medulla
oblongata
• Transmits impulses between the brain
and spinal cord
• Contains centers that regulate the rate
and depth of breathing.
Midbrain
 Introduction
• Located between the diencephalon and
pons
• Contains bundles of myelinated nerve
fibers that convey impulses to and from
higher parts of the brain, and masses of
gray matter that serve as reflex centers.
• The midbrain contains centers for
auditory and visual reflexes.

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 Medulla oblongata
• Control visceral functions, including the
cardiac center that controls heart rate,
the vasomotor center for blood pressure
control, and the respiratory center that
works, along with the pons, to control
the rate and depth of breathing.
• Also controls coughing, sneezing,
swallowing, and vomiting

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 Reticular formation
• A complex network of nerve fibres in the
brain stem, hypothalamus, cerebrum,
cerebellum, and basal ganglia
• Filters incoming sensory impulses
• Controls sleep and wakefulness

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Cerebellum
 Cerebellum
• Located dorsal to the pons and medulla
• Cerebellar activity occurs subconsciously
• Provides precise timing and appropriate
patterns of skeletal muscle contraction
Programming ballistic movements
 Cerebellum
• Cerebellum receives impulses of the
intent to initiate voluntary muscle
contraction
• Proprioceptors and visual signals
“inform” the cerebellum of the body’s
condition
• A message of coordinated movement is
sent to the cerebral motor cortex
 Cerebellum
Cerebellar cognitive function
• Plays a role in language and problem
solving
• Recognizes and predicts sequences of
events