Chapter 11.4: Nervous System

Table of Contents:

• The Neuron
• Action Potentials
• Synaptic Transmission
• Neurotransmitters
• Glial Cells
• Central v. Peripheral Nervous System
• Central Nervous System
• Peripheral Nervous System: Somatic v. Autonomic Nervous System
• Autonomic Nervous System: Sympathetic v. Parasympathetic Nervous System
• Special Senses
• Optional: Chapter 11.4 YouTube Video Playlist

Preview

The nervous system is crucial to every bodily function we perform. In this chapter we’ll look into the details of this system.

The Neuron

The neuron is the basic functional unit of the nervous system. There are three main structural parts of a neuron:

1. The cell body of the neuron is called the soma. It contains the nucleus of the neuron.
2. Dendrites are the parts of the neuron that receive signals from the previous neuron(s). A given neuron will normally have many dendrites to receive various types of input signals from various other neurons.