Nervous System

Definition
- The most important system, controls and communicates with the body
● Has 2 Parts
Central - master control unit Peripheral - links to outside world
Neurons
- Basic, structural unit in the nervous system, information messengers
- Has 3 types:
● Efferent (motor) - Conveys info from the CNS to muscles and glands.
● Afferent (sensory) - Carry info from sensory receptors to the CNS.
● Interneuron - Carry and process sensory information.

Functions of the Nervous System

● Sensory
- Gets messages from sensory receptors to monitor changes occurring
both inside and outside of the body. Those changes are called STIMULI,
and the gathered information is called Sensory Input.
● Integrative
- process and interprets the sensory input and makes decisions about
what should be done at each moment
● Motor
- sends information to muscles, glands, and organs so they can respond
correctly; function that happens as we act

Structure of Neurons
● Dendrite - carries impulses to the cell body
● Cell Body - main processing center of the cell
● Axon - Carries impulses away from cell body
● Myelin Sheath - cover/protection of axons
● Synapse - Gap between two or more nerve
cells; has 2 types
-> Electrical: faster, channel proteins
-> Chemical: Neurotransmitters,
thicker
 Central Nervous
System
Definition
- The central nervous system is responsible for higher neural functions, such
as memory, learning, and emotion. composed of two major interconnected
organs -The brain - The spinal cord
Regions of the CNS
Cerebral Hemisphere
/Cerebrum:
-the largest part of the brain.
-Contains two hemispheres
with an outer portion called
the cerebral cortex.

-Cerebral cortex, is convoluted and exhibits thick ridges called gyri

which are separated by shallow grooves called sulci. It also has deeper
grooves called fissures which
separate large regions of the
brain.
-The two hemispheres are
connected by a bridge of
nerve fibers that relay
information between the two
hemispheres called the
corpus callosum.

Diencephalon - The deep portion of the brain containing:

● Thalamus
- body’s information relay station. Processes info from body’s senses
(except smell) before being sent to the cerebral cortex for
interpretation.
- plays a role in sleep, wakefulness/consciousness, learning and memory
● Hypothalamus
- eating and drinking behavior, emotional behavior
 - sexual activity and reproduction, endocrine activities
- control of autonomic activity response to stress
● Epithalamus
- Acts as a connection between the limbic system and the brain
- Secretion of melatonin by the pineal gland and regulation of motor
pathways and emotions
● Ventral thalamus – associated with motor control

Brainstem
● It connects your brain to your spinal cord. It sends messages to the
rest of your body to regulate balance, breathing, heart rate and more.
It is composed of three sections in descending order:
● Midbrain- the top part of the brainstem is crucial for regulating eye
movements
● Pons- The middle portion of the brainstem coordinates facial
movements, hearing and balance.
● Medulla oblongata-The bottom part of the brainstem helps regulate
your breathing, heart rhythms, blood pressure and swallowing.

Cerebellum
● Area that coordinates musculoskeletal movement to maintain posture,
balance, and muscle tone.
- Inferior to the occipital lobes of the cerebrum.
- Posterior to the pons and medulla oblongata cerebellum
- the cerebellum controls balance and movement.

Memory
● is the storage and retrieval of information; has 2 stages
1. Short-term memory (S TM, or working memory)
—a fleeting memory Of the events that continually happen
-lasts seconds to hours and is limited to 7 or 8 pieces of information .
2. Long-term memory (L TM) has limitless capacity

Factors that affect transfer of memory from STM to L TM include:

● Emotional state - we learn best when we are happy, alert, motivated.
● Rehearsal -repeating or rehearsing material enhances memory
● Association-associating new information with old memories in LTM
enhances memory

Spinal Cord
● The spinal cord is a long, tube-like band of tissue. connects your brain
to your lower back. Carries nerve signals from your brain to your body
and vice versa.
● In most adults, your spinal cord is about 18 inches (45 cm) long.
● A protective layer of bone called the vertebral column protects your
spinal cord.
● The bones in the vertebral column are called vertebrae
● Between each pair of vertebrae, you have a spinal disk. Disks have a
tough outer shell and a gel like interior

Functions
● Control body movements and functions.
Signals from your brain to other body Your spinal cord has three main
parts control your movements. They also parts:
direct autonomic (involuntary) 1. Cervical (neck).
functions like your breathing rate and 2. Thoracic (chest).
heartbeat, as well as bowel and bladder 3. Lumbar (lower back).
function.
● Report senses to your brain. Signals from other parts of your body help
your brain record and process sensations like pressure or pain.
● Manage your reflexes. Your spinal cord controls some reflexes
(involuntary movements) without involving your brain.

Protection
● Cerebrospinal fluid - clear liquid renewed 4 to 5 times a day, provide
energy for brain cell function
● Meninges - 3 layers of membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord.

Layers of the Meninges

● Dura mater. The outer layer that protects your spinal cord from injury.
● Arachnoid mater. The middle layer between the epidural and
subarachnoid space.
 ● Pia mater. The inner layer that covers your spinal cord.

What nerves are in your spinal cord?

- You have 31 pairs of nerves and nerve roots in your spinal cord. These
include:
● Eight cervical nerve pairs (nerves starting in your neck and
running mostly to your face and head).
● Twelve thoracic nerve pairs (nerves in your upper body that
extend to your chest, upper back and abdomen).
● Five lumbar nerve pairs (nerves in the low back that run to your
legs and feet).
● Five sacral nerve pairs (nerves in the low back extending into the
pelvis).
● One tailbone nerve

Our Brain when Inlove

● Hippocampus, Medial Insula, Anterior Cingulate
- help regulate feelings of reward, responsible for love development
● Pituitary Gland
- Regulates hormones and secrete them into the body
● Hypothalamus
- produces dopamine,oxytocin and vasopressin, necessary when falling
inlove
● Amygdala - Moderates fear and stress

“ When in love, we produce a heavy surge of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in

the brain’s reward system that helps people feel pleasure”
 Peripheral
Nervous System
The Autonomic NS
- Regulates involuntary bodily processes, including heart rate,
respiration, digestion and pupil contraction; operates automatically
without conscious direction
The Somatic NS
- Carries sensory information from sensory organs to the CNS and relays
motor (movement) commands to muscles; controls voluntary movements
Sympathetic NS
- Prepares the body for action and stress. This is called "fight or flight"
Parasympathetic NS
- calms the body and helps the body to conserve energy

Three Main Jobs of PNS

● Senses - Sonamic, gets info from world around you
● Movement - Sonamic, deliver command signals to muscles/glands
● Unconscious - Autonomic, critical processes that do not rely on thinking
 Endocrine System
Definition
- Made up of glands that produce and secrete hormones, chemical
messengers. Responses to stress and injury. Maintains balance
- Regulates growth, metabolism and sexual development
● Endocrine: secretions inside the body
● Exocrine: secretions outside the body (sweat)

Control of Hormones
● Negative feedback system
- When the levels go above or below a SET POINT, the endocrine system
secretes hormones to lower or raise the level.
● Positive Feedback System
- The original stimulus is promoted rather than negated. Positive
feedback increases the deviation from an ideal normal value.

Pituitary Gland
- located below brain, attached to the hypothalamus
- The pituitary is often called the “master gland” because it controls all
of the other glands.
- Its actions are controlled by the hypothalamus in the brain.

Anterior Pituitary Hormones

● Prolactin or PRL
- PRL stimulates milk production from a woman's breasts after
childbirth
● Growth hormone or GH
- GH stimulates growth in childhood
- important for maintaining a healthy body composition.
- also important for maintaining muscle mass and bone mass.
 - Myostatin inhibitor drugs are being developed to treat muscle-
wasting diseases like muscular dystrophy in humans.
● Adrenocorticotropin or ACTH
- ACTH stimulates production of cortisol by the adrenal glands.
- Cortisol, a so-called "stress hormone," is vital to survival. It helps
maintain blood pressure and glucose levels.
● Thyroid-stimulating hormone or TSH
- TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to make thyroid hormones, which, in
turn, control regulate the body's metabolism, energy, growth and
development, and nervous system activity.
● Luteinizing hormone or LH
- regulates testosterone in men and estrogen in women. (gonadotropin)
● Follicle-stimulating hormone or FSH
- FSH promotes sperm production in men and stimulates the ovaries to
release eggs (ovulate) in women. LH and FSH work together to allow
normal function of the ovaries or testes. (gonadotropin)

Posterior Pituitary Gland

● Oxytocin
- Oxytocin causes milk letdown in nursing mothers and contractions
during childbirth.
● Antidiuretic hormone or ADH
- ADH, also called vasopressin, is stored in the back part of the
pituitary gland and regulates water balance.
- Too much urination can lead to dehydration. When the body is
dehydrated, ADH will cause the kidneys to conserve water.
● Diuretics
– increase urine production Many common foods and drinks contain
chemicals that are diuretics (alcohol)
- Midol relieves symptoms of bloating because it contains a diuretic
that will make you urinate more
Thyroid Gland
The thyroid hormones control your metabolism, which is the body's ability to
break down food and store it as energy and release of energy
● Thyroid Hormones
- Thyroxine (T4) & Triiodothyronine (T3)
- both increase the rate at which cells release energy from
carbohydrates
● Calcitonin – regulates the blood concentration of calcium
● BMR – basal metabolic rate : how many calories the body must consume
to maintain life
● Goiter
- enlargement of the thyroid
- Most cases are caused by an iodine deficiency. Iodine is added to salt
to add this essential element to food.
● Hyperthyroidism (Grave’s Disease)
- The thyroid gland makes too much thyroid hormone.
- Symptoms: weight loss, hand tremors, bulging eyes
● Hypothyroidism
- The thyroid gland makes too little thyroid hormone.
- Symptoms: weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, slow heart rate
● Parathyroid Glands
- Located behind the thyroid, four tiny glands Parathyroid Hormone
- takes calcium from the bones to make it available in the blood
Adrenal Glands
● Located at the top of the kidneys
Adrenal Cortex - outer area
Adrenal Medulla - inner area
● Adrenal Glands produce adrenaline (epinephrine)

Epinephrine (Adrenalin)
- secreted from the adrenal medulla – increased heart rate
- increased breathing rate - “fight or flight” - response to stress

Adrenal Cortex
● Aldosterone – help kidneys conserve sodium and excrete potassium,
maintaining blood pressure
● Cortisol – keeps blood glucose levels stable, response to stress
● Adrenal Sex Hormones - androgens (male) and estrogens (female)

Adrenal Gland Disorders

● Cushing’s Disease Hyperadrenocorticism
- Increased thirst and urination, Increased hunger, Increased panting
● Addison’s disease
- Hyposecretion of cortisol, Low blood pressure, Increased pigmentation

Other Parts of Endocrine System

● Pancreas
- The pancreas is a large gland behind the stomach that helps the body
to maintain healthy blood sugar (glucose) levels.
● Glucagon
– stimulates the liver to break down glycogen, raises blood sugar
● Insulin
– decreases blood sugar concentrations, affects the uptake of glucose
by cells
● Pineal Gland
- secretes melatonin, maintains Circadian rhythms
 ● Thymus Gland
– large in young children, gradually shrinks with age, secretes
thymosins, important to immune function
- Located above heart
● Reproductive Glands (testes and ovaries)
– testosterone, progesterone, estrogen
● GONADOTROPINS
- include any hormone that affect the gonads

Diabetes
results from an insulin deficiency, blood sugar rises (hyperglycemia) and
excess is excreted in the urine.
● Type I - juvenile onset diabetes, often caused by immune disorder that
destroys pancreatic cells
● Type II – mature onset diabetes, often individuals are overweight, may
be controlled with diet
Hypoglycemia = low blood sugar

● Diabetic neuropathies
- People with diabetes can develop nerve damage throughout the body.
Symptoms include pain, tingling, or numbness-loss of feeling-in the
hands, arms, feet, and legs. This can result in wounds that are slow to
heal.
● Diabetes Insipidus
- an uncommon condition that occurs when the kidneys are unable to
conserve water
Male Reproductive
System
Function
● produce, maintain and transport sperm (the male reproductive cells)
and semen (the protective fluid around sperm).
● discharge sperm into the female reproductive tract through sexual
intercourse (for the continuity of life).
● produce and secrete male sex hormones.
● rid your body of liquid waste materials.
Primary hormones involved
● FSH is necessary for sperm production (spermatogenesis)
● LH stimulates the production of testosterone, which is necessary to
continue the process of spermatogenesis.
● Testosterone is also important in the development of male
characteristics, including muscle mass and strength, fat distribution,
bone mass and sex drive.

Parts
1. Penis - organ for sexual intercourse
● Root - art of the penis that attaches to the wall of your abdomen.
● Body or shaft - the longest part of the penis.
- Chambers inside: corpora cavernosa and corpora spongiosum
run the length of the organ and contain a maze of blood vessels
shaped like cavernous spaces (like a sponge).
- Urethra - channel for urine and sperm, which runs along the
underside of the corpora cavernosa.
- Erectile tissue - surrounds the urethra, two main arteries and
several veins and nerves.
● head (glans), cone-shaped end of the penis covered with a loose layer of
skin called prepuce (foreskin).
● Meatus - opening at the tip of the head where urine and semen are
discharged
 2. Scrotum
- Sack like skin that hangs behind the
penis, protects testes and holds the
testicles
- Retracts in cold and expands in heat
3. Testicles
- found in scrotum, produces sperm and
testosterone
4. Epididymis
- Carries and stores sperm to mature

Accessory Organs
1. Vas deferens
- a long, muscular tube that travels from the epididymis into the pelvic
cavity, to just behind the bladder.
- transports mature sperm to the urethra in preparation in ejaculation.
2. Ejaculatory ducts
- formed by the fusion of the vas deferens and the seminal vesicles. The
ejaculatory ducts empty into the urethra.
3. Urethra
- tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside of your body.
- In males, it has the additional function of expelling (ejaculating)
semen when you reach orgasm.
- When the penis is erect during sex, the flow of urine is blocked from
the urethra, allowing only semen to be ejaculated at orgasm.
4. Seminal vesicle
- sac-like pouches attached to the vas deferens near the bladder.
- make a sugar-rich fluid (fructose) that provides sperm with a source
of energy and helps with the sperms’ ability to move (motility).
- The fluid of the seminal vesicles makes up most of the volume of your
ejaculatory fluid, or ejaculate.
 5. Prostate gland
- a walnut-sized structure that’s located below the urinary bladder in
front of the rectum. contributes additional fluid to the ejaculate.
- Prostate fluids also help to nourish the sperm. The urethra, which
carries the ejaculate to be expelled during orgasm, runs through the
center of the prostate gland.
6. Bulbourethral glands
- also known as Cowper’s glands
- pea-sized structures located on the sides of the urethra, just below
the prostate gland. produce a clear, slippery fluid that empties directly
into the urethra. This fluid serves to lubricate the urethra and to
neutralize any acidity that may be present due to residual drops of
urine in the urethra.

How does an Erection Occur?

- begins with sensory and mental stimulation.
- During sexual arousal, nerve messages begin to stimulate the penis.
Impulses from the brain and local nerves cause the muscles of the
corpora cavernosa to relax, allowing blood to flow in and fill the open
spaces. The blood creates pressure in the corpora cavernosa, making the
penis expand and creating an erection.
- tunica albuginea (the membrane surrounding the corpora cavernosa),
helps to trap the blood in the corpora cavernosa, sustaining the
erection.

How does Ejaculation Occur?

- Ejaculation is a reflex action controlled by the central nervous system. It is
triggered when the sexual act reaches a critical level of excitement. It has
two phases.
● first phase - the vas deferens contract to squeeze theb sperm toward
the base of the penis and the prostate glan and seminal vesicles release
secretions to make semen. A this stage, the ejaculation is unstoppable.
● second phase - muscles at the base of penis contract every0.8 seconds
and force the semen out of the penis in up to 5 spurts.
 Female
Reproductive
System
Function
● produce and sustain the female sex cells
● transport these cells to a site where they may be fertilized by sperm
● Provide a favorable environment for the developing fetus
● move the fetus to the outside at the end of the development period
● produce the female sex hormones

External Parts and Functions

Protects internal parts from infection and allows sperm to enter your vagina.
1. Labia Majora (Large Lips) - enclose and
protect internals, a skin (sweats)
2. Labia Minora (Small Lips)
- delicate and easily swollen, surrounds
the vagina’s opening
3. Clitoris
- a small, sensitive protrusion that’s
comparable to a penis in men
- covered by a fold of skin called the
prepuce and is sensitive to stimulation.
4. Vaginal opening
-allow menstrual blood and babies to exit
5. Hymen:
- a piece of tissue covering your vaginal
opening. It’s formed during development and present during birth.
6. Opening to your urethra -the hole you pee from.
7. Mons Pubis - Cushioning in sex, makes pheromones, induces sexual
attraction. Covered in Pubi Hair
8. Vestibular Bulbs - Induce pleasant sensations when aroused, two bulbs
of erectile tissue that close to the inferior side of the body in a clitoris
 9. Vulva Vestibule - contains the opening to the urethra and the vaginal
opening. The borders are formed from the edge of the labia minora.
“Hart’s Lines”
10.Bartholin's Glands - Secrete mucus that functions as lubricant in sex.
also known as the greater vestibular glands

Internal Parts & Functions

1. Vagina - Muscular/Baby Canal, lined with mucous membranes that
keep it moist.
2. Cervix - lowest part of uterus, allow blood & baby to exit
3. Uterus - Pear shaped organ, hold fetus in pregnancy divided into two
parts: the cervix and the corpus.Your corpus is the larger part of your
uterus that expands during pregnancy.
4. Ovaries - oval-shaped glands that are located on either side of your
uterus. ovaries produce eggs and hormones. held loosely in place by
peritoneal ligaments.
- The cortex appears more dense and granular due to the presence
of numerous ovarian follicles in various stages of development.
Each of the follicles contains an oocyte, a female germ cell.
- The medulla is a loose connective tissue with abundant blood
vessels, lymphatic vessels, and nerve fibers.
5. Fallopian Tube - Where fertilization happens, pathways for egg cells
 Menstrual Cycle
1. Menstruation
Menstruation is commonly known as a period. When you menstruate, your
uterus lining sheds and flows out of your vagina. Your period contains blood,
mucus and some cells from the lining of your uterus. The average length of a
period is three to seven days.

2. The follicular phase

The follicular phase starts on the first day of your period and lasts for 13 to
14 days, ending in ovulation. The pituitary gland in the brain releases a
hormone to stimulate the production of follicles on the surface of an ovary.
Usually, only one follicle will mature into an egg. This can happen from day 10
of your cycle. During this phase, your uterus lining also thickens in
preparation for pregnancy.

3. Ovulation
Ovulation is when a mature egg is released from an ovary and moves along a
fallopian tube towards your uterus. This usually happens once each month,
about two weeks before your next period. Ovulation can last from 16 to 32
hours.

4. The luteal phase

After ovulation, cells in the ovary (the corpus luteum)release progesterone
and a small amount of estrogen. This causes the lining of the uterus to
thicken in preparation for pregnancy.

If a fertilised egg implants in the lining of the uterus, the corpus luteum
continues to produce progesterone, which maintains the thickened lining of
the uterus.

If pregnancy does not occur, the corpus luteum dies, progesterone levels drop,
the uterus lining sheds and the period begins again.