Nervous Communication System – Basic Facts
Here are the things you need to be able to do:
- Make an outline of the organisation of the autonomic nervous system into the two component parts: the sympathetic & parasympathetic systems.
Make sure you can describe the structure of:
- a sensory
- bipolar neurone &
- a motor neurone
so that you can outline their functions in a reflex arc.
Make sure you can describe & explain the transmission of an action potential in a myelinated neurone.
- A myelinated neurone is one that has an axon covered in a myelin sheath.
Question: What is myelin? What is it composed of?
Activity
Write an explanation of the importance of saltatory conduction & the refractory period in the transmission of nerve impulses. You may be given a graph of such a phenomenon.
- Make sure you can describe the structure of a cholinergic synapse, & explain its function.
Activity
Write & draw an outline of the role of synapses. Refer to the direction of the nerve impulse & the interconnection of nerve pathways.
See the images on this page. Identify them, label them where relevant & make sure you can relate them to the questions above. You will have an image of a neurone, a synapse.