The Brain, Cranial Nerves, Autonomic Nervous Parietal

System and Special Senses • Somatic sensory area

• Posterior to the central sulcus
Functional Anatomy of the Brain • Body is represented in an upside down manner
• Cerebral hemispheres • Sensory pathways are crossed pathways
• Diencephalon
• Brain stem
• Cerebellum

Frontal
Cerebral Hemispheres • Primary motor area
• Most superior part of the brain • Anterior to the central sulcus
• Gyri: elevated ridges • Major voluntary tract: pyramidal or
• Sulci: shallow grooves corticospinal tract
• Fissures: deeper grooves which separate large • Body is represented in an upside down manner
regions of the brain • The pathways are crossed
• Longitudinal fissure: single deep fissure that • Areas of higher intellectual reasoning
separates the cerebral hemispheres • Complex memories (also seen in the temporal
lobe)
Lobes • Speech area
• Parietal • Language comprehension
• Frontal
• Temporal Broca’s area
• Occipital • Specialized area involved in ability to speak
• Found at the base of the precentral gyrus
• Located only in one hemispehere (left)
• Damage to this area: inability to say words
properly (you know what you want to say, but
you can’t vocalize the words)

Occipital
• Visual area

Temporal
• Auditory area
• Olfactory area

Cerebral Hemispheres
• Gray matter: outermost layer of the cerebral
cortex
• White matter: deeper
 • Corpus callosum: connects the cerebral • Contains cranial nerve nuclei
hemispheres • Controls heart rate, blood pressure, breathing,
swallowing, and vomiting

Diencephalon
• “interbrain”
• Sits atop the brainstem and enclosed by the
cerebral hemispheres
• Major structures: thalamus, hypothalamus,
epithalamus
• Thalamus: relay station for sensory impulses
passing upward to the sensory cortex
• Hypothalamus
• regulation of body temperature, water
balance and metabolism
• part of the limbic system
• Epithalamus: composed of the pineal body and
choroid plexus

Reticular Formation
• Diffuse mass of gray matter
• Motor control of visceral organs
• Ascending Reticular Activating System
(ARAS)
– Role in consciousness and the
awake/sleep cycles
Brain Stem – Damage: permanent unconsciousness
• Composed of the midbrain, pons and medulla (coma)
oblongata
• Contains the nuclei of many spinal nerves Cerebellum
• Has two hemispheres and a convoluted
Midbrain surface
• Cerebral aqueduct • Outer gray matter and inner white matter
• Cerebral peduncles • Precise timing for skeletal muscle activity
• Corpora quadrigemina • Controls balance and equilibrium (motor
coordination)
Pons • Damage: ataxia
• Contains many fiber tracts (“bridge”) – Clumsy and disorganized movements

Medulla Oblongata Protection of the CNS

• Contains many fiber tracts • Skull and vertebral column
 • Meninges
• CSF Blood-brain Barrier
• Blood-brain barrier • Least permeable capillaries in the body
• Only water, glucose and essential amino acids
Three connective tissue membranes can pass through easily
• Dura mater • Metabolic wastes (urea, toxins, proteins and
– Double-layered membrane (periosteal most drugs) are prevented from entering
layer and meningeal layer) • Nonessential amino acids and potassium ions
• Arachnoid mater are actively pumped from the brain to the
– Weblike blood
– Subarachnoid space • Fats, respiratory gases and other fat-soluble
– Arachnoid villi molecules easily diffuse through the barrier
• Pia mater
– Clings tightly to the surface of the brain The Cranial Nerves
• 12 pairs
• Primarily serve the head and neck
• Only one pair (vagus nerve) extends to the
thoraco-abdominal cavity
• Numbered in order

I: Olfactory
II: Optic
III: Oculomotor
IV: Trochlear
V: Trigeminal
VI: Abducens
Cerebrospinal Fluid VII: Facial
• Similar plasma, but has less protein and more VIII: Vestibulocochlear (Acoustic)
vitamin C IX: Glossopharyngeal
• Formed by the choroid plexus X: Vagus
• Watery cushion XI: [Spinal] Accessory
• Lumbar tap: method of obtaining CSF XII: Hypoglossal

Lateral ventricles à third ventricle à cerebral

aqueduct (of Sylvius) à fourth ventricle à central
canal of spinal cord / subarachnoid space (à blood)
 – Synapse with the second motor neuron
in a terminal ganglion
• S2 to S4
– Form the pelvic nerves (pelvic
splanchnic nerves)
• Most active when the body is at rest and not
threatened in any way
• “D” division: digestion, defecation and
diuresis
• Neurotransmitter: acetylcholine (cholinergic)

Sympathetic Division
• “thoracolumbar” division
• T1 to L2
• Sympathetic chain ganglion (sympathetic
trunk) lie alongside the vertebral column on
each side
• Collateral ganglion: where the splanchnic
• Most cranial nerves are mixed nerves (both nerves synapse to supply the abdominal and
sensory and motor functions) pelvic organs
• Three pairs are purely sensory: Optic, olfactory,
vestibulocochlear
• Longest intracranial course: Abducens
• Longest extracranial course: Vagus

Autonomic Nervous System

• Motor subdivision of the PNS that controls body
activities automatically
• Two divisions: sympathetic and
parasympathetic
• Has a chain of two motor neurons:
– Preganglionic axon
• The neuron is in the brain and
spinal cord
• Leaves the CNS to synapse with
the second motor neuron in a • Neurotransmitter: norepinephrine (adrenergic)
ganglion outside the CNS – The preganglionic axons of both
– Postganglionic axon divisions release acetylcholine
• Extends from the ganglion to the • “fight or flight” response
organ it serves • “E” division: exercise, excitement, emergency
and embarrassment

Parasympathetic Division
• Cranial nerves III, VII, IX and X
– Serve the head and neck organs
 The Special Senses

The Eye
• About 2.5 cm in diameter
• Extrinsic eye muscles aim the eye for following
moving objects and for convergence
• Lacrimal apparatus: lacrimal gland and series of
ducts that produce tears (for washing and
lubricating the eyeball)
• Eyelids protect the eyes

• Blind spot: optic disk

• Lens: major light-bending structure of the eye
• Pathway of light:
cornea à aqueous humor à pupil à aqueous humor
à lens à vitreous humor à retina
• Conjunctiva: mucous membrane that covers the
anterior eyeball and lines the eyelids • Pathway of nerve impulses in the eye
• Sclera: outer, tough, protective tunic (anterior
Optic nerve à optic chiasma à optic tract à
portion is the cornea)
thalamus à optic radiation à visual cortex in the
• Choroid: middle tunic
occipital lobe of the brain
– Provides nutrition to the internal eye
structures
– Prevents light’s scattering in the eye
• Retina: innermost (sensory) coat
– Contains photoreceptors (rods and
cones)
– Fovea centralis: contains only cones
 – Sensorineural deafness: there is
damage to the nervous system
structures involved in hearing

The Ear
• Three major areas: outer ear, middle ear, inner
ear

Outer Ear
• Pinna, external auditory canal, and tympanic
membrane
• Involved in sound transmission only
Semicircular Canals
• Receptors are for dynamic equilibrium
• Respond to angular or rotational body
movements

Vestibule
• Receptors are for static equilibrium
• Respond to pull of gravity and report on head
position

Middle Ear
• Ossicles and auditory tube
• Involved with sound transmission only

Inner Ear
• Bony labyrinth
• Cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canal
• Contains perilymph and membranous sacs filled Chemical Senses
with endolymph
• Equilibrium receptors within the membranous Smell and Taste
sacs of the vestibule and semicircular canal • Chemoreceptors: receptors for taste and
• Hearing receptors within the membranes of the olfaction
cochlea • Respond to chemicals in solution
• Organ of Corti: • Olfactory receptors: located in the superior
– Contains hair cells aspect of each nasal cavity
– Stimulated by sound vibrations • Olfactory pathways are closely linked to the
transmitted through air, membranes, limbic system
bone and fluids
• Deafness
– Conduction deafness: transmission of
sound vibrations through the external
and middle ears is hindered
• Gustatory cells are located in the taste buds
• Four major taste sensations: sweet, salty, sour
and bitter
• Taste and appreciation of foods are influenced
by the sense of smell and the temperature and
texture of foods