The
Nervous System
The following questions
will
help you to review the material from the lecture and the text.
- What is the function of
the nervous
system? What problem is solved?
- Describe the evolution
of the
nervous system beginning in invertebrates.
- Use a sea anemone to
describe
the basic structure and function of a nerve net. What kind of
advantages
does the nerve net give the organism?
- What kind of feature in
the bauplan
in animals favored the evolution of a more complex nervous system?
Explain
your answer.
- In animal biology we
often discuss
the concept of cephalization. What does cephalization refer to?
- Describe the structure
of a basic
neuron. Draw the cell and label important parts.
- What is the function of
myelin?
How does it form? What happens if myelin is absent?
- What is the basic
difference between
Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes?
- How do neurons connect
with each
other? How do they signal?
- What is the importance
of sensory
neurons, motor neurons and interneurons?
- Describe the reflex
response in
a vertebrate.
- Does the magnitude and
the frequency
of action potentials vary? Why or why not?
- What is the importance
of a threshold
potential?
- How does the potential
move from
cell to cell?
- Explain the events that
occur
in the presynaptic cell's terminal, the synaptic cleft as well as
the
membrane
of the postsynaptic cell as an action potential reaches the
terminal.
- What is the role of
neurotransmitters
and receptors in this process?
- What is the importance
of understanding
that there are many different types of neurotransmitters?
- What is the role of the
axon hillock?
- When does the nervous
system develop
in human?
- What is the difference
between
the CNS and the PNS? Describe each part of these components of a
vertebrate
nervous system.
- Explain the structure of
the spinal
cord. What is white matter? Gray matter?
- Explain the structure of
a nerve?
How does a nerve differ from a neuron?
- The PNS can be divided
into two
components. What are they and how do they differ from each other?
- What is the importance
of understanding
the differences between the sympathetic and parasympathetic
components
of the autonomic nervous system?
- What is the function of
a brain
in a vertebrate?
- Describe the meninges.
What is
the function of the meninges?
- How does the size of the
brain
correspond to the body weight of an organism?
- Is an increase in brain
size unique
to humans?
- Describe the basic
components
of the vertebrate brain with help of a drawing. Briefly describe the
function
of each part of the brain.
- How do these different
parts differ
from each other as one compares fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds
and
mammals?
- Describe the parts of
the forebrain,
midbrain and hindbrain in a human. Briefly describe the parts of
each
component
as well as their function/s.
- Discuss the role of the
cerebral
cortex in human. What kind of functions are associated with the
different
parts of the cerebral cortex?
- Summarize: briefly
describe the
evolution of the nervous system in animals with an emphasis on the
vertebrates.
- OPTIONAL QUESTIONS
(below):
- What is a membrane
potential?
How does it form? What is the basis for this potential?
- What is the importance
of ion
channels and membrane proteins relative to the structure of the cell
membrane
as one tries to explain the concept of a membrane potential?
- What is an action
potential? What
kind of attributes doe sit have? What purpose does it serve?
- Explain the events
that occur
as an action potential moves along the membrane. How does the action
potential
propagate itself?
- Make a drawing of an
action potential
as seen on an oscilloscope and link the events from your previous
answer
to the drawing.
Illustrations and Links:
