This guy looks nervous ;)
Well let's see a few facts about the central nervous system or simply CNS:
☛ The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord.
☛ The brain plays a central role in the control of most bodily functions, including awareness, movements, sensations, thoughts, speech, and memory. Some reflex movements can occur via spinal cord pathways without the participation of brain structures.
☛ The spinal cord is connected to a section of the brain called the brainstem and runs through the spinal canal. Cranial nerves exit the brainstem. Nerve roots exit the spinal cord to both sides of the body. The spinal cord carries signals (messages) back and forth between the brain and the peripheral nerves.
☛ Cerebrospinal fluid surrounds the brain and the spinal cord and also circulates within the cavities (called ventricles) of the central nervous system.
☛ The leptomeninges surround the brain and the spinal cord. The cerebrospinal fluid circulates between 2 meningeal layers called the pia matter and the arachnoid (or pia-arachnoid membranes).
☛ The outer, thicker layer serves the role of a protective shield and is called the dura matter.
☛ Billions of neurons allow the different parts of the body to communicate with each other via the brain and the spinal cord. A fatty material called myelin coats nerve cells to insulate them and to allow nerves to communicate quickly.
Read & Learn:
http://www.brainfacts.org/brain-basics/neuroanatomy/articles/2012/parts-of-the-nervous-system/
Access Brain Facts, a primer on the brain and nervous system, published by the Society for Neuroscience:
http://www.brainfacts.org/about-neuroscience/brain-facts-book/
Photo via Menschen Museum, Berlin
#neuroscience #CNS #biology #science
Dr Osterman, Is that you?
ReplyDeleteVery nice illustration. However, the stomach plays a very important role when it comes to stimulation.
ReplyDeleteWhat you eat matters. What you can absorb from what you eat matters most.
Interruption of the stomach, via sound vibration, particularly at very low frequencies can force the stomach to send signals to the brain that can result into a person passing out.
It is very much like motion sickness. It starts off first in the stomach or around the area of the belly before sending out a signal through the central nervous system telling the brain to shot down.
Stomach plays a very important role in digestion, that is correct. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf you were referring to the vagus nerve - which is a large nerve that runs from the brain to the stomach - that's something else. When this nerve is overstimulated, a person may faint.
As for the motion sickness...Recent research has found that car sickness could be the result of your brain responding to what it thinks is a sudden bout of poisoning.
After all, your body is technically stationary when you're sitting in the back seat of a car.
At the same time, your brain also knows you're moving forward at a certain speed because of the balance sensors - little tubes of fluid - in your inner ear.
The liquid in these tubes is sloshing around, indicating that you're moving, but in reality you're sitting still. Your brain's getting some seriously mixed messages. It's the job of the thalamus to piece together this info and figure out what's truly going on, but it often comes to the conclusion that poisons are to blame, which is why you'll sometimes have to stop at the side of the road to puke.
Bwahaha! I love your sense of humor Corina Marinescu! 😂
ReplyDeleteI don't really get motion sickness on a boat or plane, but I haven't been on one with serious storm weather. More susceptible in a car, get queasy if reading, which isn't so good if I am the navigator. I find looking out of the window and some fresh air helps. When your eyes, ears and brain agrees you are moving that can be enough to 'cure' it.
ReplyDeleteThe human body is a complex system and you certainly have an amazing grasp on it, someone to be truly admired