Human Nervous System - Essay Example

Contents Central Nervous System 2 Autonomic Nervous System 3 Endocrine System 5 Conclusion 5 Bibliography 6 Topic Central Nervous System The central nervous system (CNS) is basically an integral part of the human body’s nervous system that is responsible for integrating all the information that the nervous system receives from the different parts of the body. Its job is to coordinate the information and activity of all the different parts of the body within all multi-cellular species except in the radially symmetric species like the sponges and jellyfishes. The Central Nervous System form the major portion of the nervous system and includes both the brain as well as the spinal cord. Some classifications of the Central Nervous System also include retina and the cranial nerves as part of the Central Nervous System. Along with the peripheral nervous system (PNS) (Hickman, et al., 2008), the Central Nervous System (CNS) has an extremely important function to play in the behavior controlling. The Central Nervous System is enclosed in the dorsal cavity, right alongside with the brain that is contained in the cranial cavity, and the spinal cord that is contained in the spinal cavity (Maton, et al., 1993). The Central Nervous System has the responsibility of the task sending information, receiving information, and interpreting the information that is being relayed to and from the different parts of the body (Bailey, 2013). The role of the central nervous system (CNS) can be summarized as having the responsibility for integrating all the sensory information within the body and then responding accordingly to the information that is relayed (Berkely.edu, n.d.). The central nervous system (CNS) of the body is basically responsible for all the unintentional and reflex nerve action. It basically means that the central nervous system takes care of all the nerve action meaning that any type of nerve reaction is the sole responsibility of the CNS (Standley, 2013). The central nervous system (CNS) has the responsible for almost all thing that a human being does. From the simple activity of breathing to the complex mental abilities that help solve complicated mathematic problems are all the direct responsibility of the Central Nervous System (CNS) (Buzzle.com, 2013). Perhaps the simplest example of what the Central Nervous system does is in the fact that as soon as someone’s hand touches a hot object, the body reacts within milli seconds and the bodies reflex is to draw back the hand immediately. Behind this simple activity are sensory tasks performed by the Central Nervous System whereby the hot sensation registered by the hand is transmitted to the brain, is decoded by the brain and the brain instructs the specific part to perform the action of drawing back the hand. All this activity is undertaken in less than a whole second and the Central Nervous System (CNS) is responsible for it. Autonomic Nervous System The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) (Dorlands medical Dictionary, n.d.) is also known as the visceral nervous system or also the involuntary nervous system. Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is a part of the body’s peripheral nervous system(PNS) and acts as a control system. it functions majorly under the level of awareness and consciousness. It is responsible for controlling the visceral functions in the body. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) affects several bodily functions that include the heart rate, respiratory rate, digestion, perspiration, salivation, micturition (urination), the pupillary dilation, as well as sexual arousal and related tasks. Most of the autonomous functions are unintentional and reflex actions but there are a few Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) functions also work at a certain degree of conscious level where one has control over things. Everyday examples of such voluntary actions that are basic functions of Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)include mundane activities like breathing, swallowing food, and or sexual arousal, as well as the heart rate in certain scenarios (Porges, 1997). Within the brain, ANS’s location is the medulla oblongata in the lower portion of the brainstem. The medullas major Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) tasks include the respiration or the rcc also more commonly known as the respiratory control centre, the cardiac regulation which is basically the cardiac control centre also known as "ccc", the vasomotor activity or the vasomotor centre known as "vmc", and some reflex actions like the likes of sneezing, coughing, vomiting and swallowing etc (J. K., et al., 1997).. These tasks are further subdivided into different other parts which are associated to the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) subsystems and the overall nervous systems that are outside of the brain. The hypothalamus that is situated just above the brain stem basically serves the purpose as an integrator for the different autonomic functions of the body, and receives Autonomic Nervous System regulatory input from the limbic system to manage its role as the integrator (University of California, San Frnacisco, 2008). The autonomic nervous system (ANS), is sub divided into three parts anatomy wise. These parts include the parasympathetic along with the cranial as well as sacral connections, the sympathetic which includes the central nervous connections in the lumbar and thoracic portion of spinal cord, and the enteric nervous system which also contains the digestive tract (Sloan, et al., 1999). The sensory nervous system is an important part in relation to the autonomic nervous system (ANS), because it is the autonomic nervous system (ANS), inputs that actually initiate changes in the autonomic tone (Bulloch, et al., 1999). Endocrine System The endocrine system is bodily system of glands. Each of the different glands secretes a different type of hormone straight away into the main bloodstream. Some of these secretions are moved along the nerve tracts for maintaining homeostasis (Kaushansky, 2006). The endocrine system is the complete opposite of and in contrast to the body’s exocrine system, which secretes all of its different chemicals from the glands using ducts. The word endocrine has basically been derived from two different the Greek words. The first Greek word "endo" means either inside, or either within something while "crinis" is substitutable for secrete. Hence the endocrine system I contained within the body for the purpose of secretion of glands. The endocrine system is also an information signal system just like the nervous system, yet whilst having the same description as the nervous system, its effects and method of doing things are significantly different from the nervous system. The effects of the endocrine system are very slow to in the initial stages and need a jump start. These effects are very extended in their response and reflex, sometimes lasting for only a few hours and at times last up to even weeks. The nervous system purpose is to quickly send information and the responses created by this relay of information are generally very short lived. Hormones are basically stuff or chemical mediators that are released from endocrinal tissue into the main bloodstream. These hormones travel for the purpose of targeting tissue to generate a reaction. Hormones purpose is to regulate the various human functions, that include growth and development, metabolism, the tissue function, and things like mood as well as sleep. Endocrine system is a field of internal medicine (Hould, et al., 1988). Conclusion The central nervous system, autonomic nervous system and the endocrine sytsem all form an integral part of the human body’s nervous system. Many of their tasks are interdependent but as has become quite evident, without even one of these system fully functioning, the entire nervous system becomes handicapped. Bibliography Bailey, R., 2013. Central Nervous System. [Online] Available at: http://biology.about.com/od/organsystems/ss/central-nervous-system.htm [Accessed 14 March 2013]. Berkely.edu, n.d. The Central Nervous System. [Online] Available at: http://mcb.berkeley.edu/courses/mcb135e/central.html [Accessed 14 March 2013]. Bulloch, K., Sadamatsu, M., Patel, A. & B. S., M., 1999. Calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivity in the hippocampus and its relationship to cellular changes following exposure to trimethyltin.. Journal of Neuroscience Research, Volume 55, pp. 441-457. Buzzle.com, 2013. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/central-nervous-system-function.html. [Online] Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/central-nervous-system-function.html [Accessed 14 March 2013]. Dorlands medical Dictionary, n.d. Autonomic Central System. [Online]. Hickman, et al., 2008. Integrated Princinples of Zoology. 14th ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Hould, F. et al., 1988. Progesterone receptors regulate gallbladder motility. J Surg Res , 45(6), pp. 505-512. J. K., E., T. E., S. & C. B., S., 1997. Mechanisms of CNS response to systemic immune challenge: The febrile response. Trends in Neuroscience, 20(12), pp. 565-570. Kaushansky, K., 2006. Lineage-specific hematopoietic growth factors. N Engl J Med, 354(19), p. 2034–2045.. Maton, A. et al., 1993. In: Human Biology and Health. .Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall, pp. 132-144. Porges, S. W., 1997. Emotion: an evolutionary by-product of the neural regulation of the autonomic nervous system.. Annual of the New York Academy of Science, Volume 807, pp. 62-77. Sloan, R. P. et al., 1999. Cardiac autonomic control buffers blood pressure variability responses to challenge: A psychophysiologic model of coronary artery disease. Psychosomatic Medicine, Volume 61, pp. 58-68. Standley, D. L. J., 2013. (PNS) THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. [Online] Available at: http://www.drstandley.com/bodysystems_peripheralnervous.shtml [Accessed 14 March 2013]. University of California, San Frnacisco, 2008. Parasympathetic Function. [Online] Available at: http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/research/allostatic/parasym.php [Accessed 14 March 2013]. Read More