Spinal Cord and Nerves

The Nervous System

 Coordinates the activity of muscles, organs,
senses, and actions
 Made up of nervous tissue
 Has 3 main functions:
 1. Receives sensory Input
 2. Integration
 3. Dictates motor output
 Divisions of the Nervous System
 Central Nervous System (CNS)
 Brain and spinal cord
 Interprets incoming sensory signals
 Dictates motor responses
 Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
 Ganglia
 Nerves
 Cranial nerves and spinal nerves
 Communication between regions of
body and CNS
 Somatic

PNS ANS Sympathetic

Parasymp.
Enteric

CNS
PNS
 Nervous system structures outside the brain
and spinal cord
 Either somatic or visceral
 Visceral motor portion is the ANS
 Structural components:
 Sensory receptors
 Motor endings
 Nerves and ganglia
PNS - Nervous Tissue

 Made up of 2 cells:
 Neurons
 Conduct electrical

impulses
 Supporting cells
 Surround the

neurons
 Ex. Glial cells
The Neuron
 Nerve cells
 Transmit signals in form of
nerve impulses
 Have extreme longevity
 Do not divide
 High metabolic rate
Neuronal Anatomy

 Cell body (soma)

Most are in CNS
 Neuron processes
 Dendrites
 Toward cell body
 Axons
 Transmit away from
cell body
 Synapses
 Site where neurons
communicate
Neuronal Anatomy
 Myelin sheath
 Fatty sheath that surrounds most nerve fibers
 Reflex arc
 Responses to a stimulus
 Interneuron
 Nerve cell that lies between a sensory neuron
and motor neuron in a reflex arc
 Confined entirely within the CNS
PNS - Sensory and Motor Signals
 Divided by the body
regions they serve:

 Sensory division
 Somatic sensory
 Visceral sensory

 Motor division
 Somatic motor
 Visceral motor
Types of Nerve Signals/Fibers
 Sensory (afferent)
 Picked up by sensory receptors thru body
 Carried by nerve fibers of PNS into CNS
 Motor (efferent)
 Carried away from the CNS by nerve fibers
into PNS
 Innervate muscles and glands
 Causes these organs to contract or secrete
 Remember: SAME
Sensory and Motor Signals/Fibers
 Somatic sensory
 Body senses
 touch, pressure, temperature, vibration of body, muscles
stretching, balance
 Visceral sensory
 Organ senses
 Stretch, pain, temperature in organs
 (eg) nausea, hunger, cramps
 Somatic motor
 Body movement
 Voluntary contraction of skeletal muscles
 Visceral motor
 Organ movement
 Contraction of smooth muscle, glands
 = Autonomic Nervous System (involuntary)
Spinal Nerves (31 Pairs)
 Part of the PNS (Somatic)
 Lie in intervertebral foramina
 Send lateral branches to
body
 Named according to their point
of issue from the vertebral
column
 8 pairs of cervical spinal
nerves; C1-C8
 12 pairs of thoracic spinal
nerves; T1-T12
 5 pairs of lumbar spinal
nerves; L1-L5
 5 pairs of sacral spinal
nerves; S1-S5
 1 pair of coccygeal spinal
nerves; C01
Spinal Cord Segments
Spinal Nerves
 Each spinal nerve connected to spinal cord
via dorsal (sensory) and ventral (motor) root
 Spinal nerves branch into dorsal ramus and
ventral ramus
 Ventral ramus
 Connects to rami communicates, which then lead
to sympathetic chain ganglia
 Supply anterior and lateral regions of the neck,
trunk, and limbs
 Dorsal ramus
 Supply the dorsum of the neck and trunk (back)
Roots V. Rami
 Rami
 Lateral branches of
spinal nerves
 Each contains both
sensory fibers and
motor fibers
 Roots
 Lie medial to the spinal
nerves
 Strictly sensory
(dorsal) or motor
(ventral)
The Big Picture
 Just lateral to
intervertebral
foramen, each
spinal nerve then
splits in 2

 Dorsal Rami
 Ventral Rami

 Contain BOTH
Sensory and
Motor fibers!!
Autonomic Nervous System
 Visceral Motor Function
 Not easily controlled by will
 Get nervous and sweat
 Innervate smooth muscle, cardiac muscle,
glands
 Regulate visceral function
 Heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, urination
 Has 2 divisions:
 Parasympathetic
 Sympathetic
ANS
 Parasympathetic  Sympathetic
 Enables body to
unwind and calm down
 Most active when body
at rest
 Routine maintenance
functions
 Craniosacral division
 Fibers emerge from
brain and sacral
spinal cord
 “fight or flight”
 Mobilizes the body
during extreme
situations
 Becomes active when
extra metabolic effort
needed
 Thoracolumbar
division
 Fibers arise from
thoracic and lumbar
parts of spinal cord
ANS
 Includes a chain of 2 motor neurons
 Preganglionic neuron
 Preganglionic axon

 Ganglionic neuron
 Postganglionic axon

 Autonomic neuron synapses 2 neurons

PNS
 Somatic NS
 Autonomic NS
 Sympathetic division
 Parasympathetic
division
 Enteric division
Somatic Nervous System
 Innervates skeletal muscle
 Neurons runs from CNS directly to muscle
 Consists of single neuron plus skeletal
muscle cells
 Voluntary control
 Running, moving limbs, typing on a computer!
CNS – Spinal Cord
 Runs through vertebral canal of the vertebral
column
 Protected by bone, meninges, and
cerebrospinal fluid
 Spinal cord made of a core of gray matter
surrounded by white matter
 31 pairs of spinal nerves branch off spinal cord
through intervertebral foramen
 Functions in many ways:
 Involved in sensory and motor
innervation of body inferior to the head
(through spinal nerves)
 Provides a 2-way conduction pathway
for signals between body and brain
 Major center for reflexes
Spinal Cord Growth
 Until 3rd month of
development, does not
run to coccyx
 As vertebral column
grows caudally, spinal
cord becomes more
rostral
 At birth, ends at L3
 During childhood,
terminates at L1 and L2
 Adults runs from
medulla oblongata to L1
Regions of the Spinal Cord
 Cervical
 Thoracic
 Lumbar
 Sacral
 Coccygeal
 Cervical + Lumbar
enlargements
 Cauda equina
 Conus medullaris
 Filum terminale
Meninges of Brain and Spinal Cord
 Dura mater (superficial)
 Spinal dural sheath
 Does not attach to bone
 Epidural space
 Fat and veins
 Between dura mater and
vertebra
 Subdural space
 Between dura mater and
arachnoid
Meninges of Brain and Spinal Cord
 Arachnoid mater (middle)
 Impermeable layer =
barrier
 Raised off pia mater by
rootlets
 Subarachnoid space
 Between arachnoid and
pia mater
 Contains CSF
 Pia mater (deep)
 Highly vascular
 Adheres to brain/spinal
cord tissue
Gray Mater
 Consists of neuron cell
bodies, unmyelinated
axons, dendrites, and
neuroglia
 Shaped like an “H”
 Gray commissure
(crossbar)
 Central canal
 Posterior horns
 Anterior horns
 Gray Mater

 Posterior horns
 Consist of interneurons that transmit in from outside spinal cord into it
 Dorsal root contain sensory fibers
 Somatic Sensory (SS)
 Visceral Sensory (VS)
Dorsal root ganglia - swelling in dorsal root that these interneurons pass
through
 Anterior horns
 Cell bodies of motor neurons send info out of spinal cord to muscles and
glands
 Ventral Root contains Motor Fibers
 Visceral Motor
 Somatic Motor
White Mater
 Surrounds gray matter
 Composed of myelinated
and unmyelinated axons
 Divided into white
columns (funiculi)
 Posterior funiculus
 Anterior funiculus
 Lateral funiculus
 Allow for communication
between
 Parts of the spinal cord
 Spinal cord and brain
 White Mater
 3 types of nerve fibers:
 Ascending
 Carry sensory info from sensory
neurons of body to brain
 touch, pressure, pain, temperature
 Descending
 Carry motor instructions from brain
to spinal cord
 Contraction of muscles and
secretion of glands
 control precise, skilled movement =
writing, maintain balance, create
movement
 Commissural
 Cross from one side of cord to the
other
Nervous System Overview