Biological

Psychology
The Cells of the Nervous System
Josefina C. Ochoa, PhD, RPm, LPT
Introduction
● The Nervous system (NS) controls every activity
● Change in heart rate, breathing, walking
● Problem solving
● Contains 2 kinds of cells: neurons and glia
ANATOMY OF NEURONS AND GLIA
NEURONS
● Neurons receive information and transmit it to other cells.
● The adult human brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons.
● Small gaps separates the tips of one neuron’s fibers from the surface
of the next neuron.
Glial Cell
NEUROGLIA
● Outnumber neurons by about 10 to 1
(the guy on the right had an
inordinate amount of them).

● 6 types of supporting cells

– 4 are found in the CNS:
GLIA CELLS
• Although glia cells DO NOT carry nerve impulses (action potentials)
they do not have many important functions. In fact, without glia, the
neurons would not work properly!

• Astrocytes, like most glial cells, were long considered essential for
their role in supporting and maintaining nerve tissue. But more and
more evidence indicates that astrocytes may actually play a far more
important role in neural communication.
The four main functions of glial cells are:
 To surround neurons and hold them in place
 To supply nutrients and oxygen to neurons
 To insulate one neuron from another
 To destroy and remove the carcasses of dead neurons (clean up)
FUNCTION OF GLIA CELLS
• Some glia function primarily as physical support for neurons. Others regulate the internal
environment of the brain, especially the fluid surrounding neurons and their synapses,
and provide nutrition to nerve cells.
• Glia have important developmental roles, guiding migration of neurons in early
development, and producing molecules that modify the growth of axons and dendrites.
• Recent findings in the hippocampus and cerebellum have indicated that glia are also
active participants in synaptic transmission, regulating clearance of neurotransmitter from
the synaptic cleft, releasing factors, such as ATP which modulate presynaptic function,
and even releasing neurotransmitters themselves.
Gliogenesis
Microgliogenesis
NEURAL CIRCUITS AND
NETWORK
• Timing – time for neural impulses to travel along a fiber & more time
for synaptic summation
• Synaptic summation – two or more impulse arrive within very brief
period to cause a response, w/ 2 impulses arriving w/in 15
milliseconds, summation of effects produce a response
• Alternative nerve pathways – incoming fibers make connections with
efferent fibers, enabling proliferation of possible pathways from
stimulus to response
NEURAL CIRCUITS AND
NETWORK
• Reverberation – incoming impulse travels over the involved neural
network and then comes back again to re-stimulate the neuron
originally bringing back the impulse, this happen until the original
stimulus is removed
• Temporal summation – within 15 milliseconds after the first,
recruitment happens similar to summation as a repeated stimulus sets
off a response which a single stimulus failed to do
NEURAL CIRCUITS AND
NETWORK
• Reciprocal innervation – an automatic process of simultaneous
excitation of a set of motor neurons and inhibition of another, w/ two
opposing sets of muscles
• Irradiation – involvement of more sensory, connecting & effector
fibers as strength of stimulus is increased
Structure of Animal Cell
ANIMAL CELLS
• The surface of a cell is its membrane (or plasma membrane), a structure that
separates the inside of the cell from the outside environment.
• It is composed of two layers of fat molecules that are free to flow around one
another.
• Most chemicals cannot cross the membrane, but specific protein channels in
the membrane permit a controlled flow of water, oxygen, sodium, potassium,
calcium, chloride and other important chemical.
• Nucleus – contains the chromosomes
• Mitochondrion – performs metabolic activities, providing the energy that the
cell requires for all other activities .
NUCLEUS & MITOCHONDRIA
• Cells have nucleus where the mitochondria performs metabolic
activities
• Providing the needed energy for activities
• Overactive mitochondria – burn fuel rapidly thus yields overheat
• Less mitochondria – predisposed to depression and pains
• Mutated mitochondria – possible cause of mutism
RIBOSOMES
• Ribosomes are the sites at w/c cell synthesizes new protein molecules.
• Proteins provide building materials for the cell and facilitate various
chemical reactions
• Some ribosomes float freely within the cell, others are attached to the
endoplasmic reticulum, a network of thin tubes that transport newly
synthesized proteins to other locations.
Structure of Neuron
Variations Among Neurons
(A) Sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglion, categorized as pseudo-
unipolar neurons, produce a single elongated and fused axonal process that
bifurcates into two functionally distinct branches, but no dendrites.
(B) Retinal and olfactory bipolar neurons develop both a single axonal
process and a single arborizing dendrite.
(C) Visual system amacrine and horizontal cells lack typical axons, although
specialized presynaptic and postsynaptic regions of dendritic processes
exist.
(D) Neurons of the lateral geniculate nucleus, providing the link between
retinal input and the primary visual cortex, are characterized by robust
axonal arborization, but limited dendritic elaboration.
(E)Hippocampal pyramidal neurons possess distinct functional
subpopulations of apical and basal dendrites, and an elongated axon which
gives rise to multiple collateral branches.
Within the cerebellum, (F) granule neurons develop a signature " T-shaped "
axon and several unbranched dendrites ending in claw-like termini. A
significantly elaborated axonal structure is achieved instead by basket cells
(G), which produce moderately arborized dendrites but numerous axon
collaterals that form basket-like cages around Purkinje cell somata.
In contrast,
(H) Purkinje cells develop a planar highly-arborized dendritic tree studded
with actinenriched dendritic spines, but a relatively simple axon.
ANATOMY OF NEURONS AND
GLIA
NEURONS
• Receives information and transmit it to other cells
• According to one estimate, the adult human brain contains
approximately 100 billion neurons (Williams & Herrup, 1988)
• Santiago Ramon y Cajal developed staining techniques to show that a
small gap separates the tips of the neuron’s fibers from the surface of
the next neuron.
 Santiago Ramon y Cajal
● Pioneer of Neuroscience
● Before the 1800s, microscopy could reveal few
details about the nervous system.
● Then the Italian investigator Camillo Golgi found a
way to stain nerve cells with silver salts.
● Cajal used Golgi’s methods but applied them to
infant brains, smaller and easier to examine.
● Cajal’s research demonstrated that nerve cells
remain separate instead of merging into one another.
STRUCTURE OF A NEURON
• SENSORY NEURON – processes information

• INTEGRATION – what should be done about it

• MOTOR NEURON – response that occur when the nervous systems

activates certain parts of one’s body
 SENSORY
NEURON

MOTOR NEURON
• Afferent axon – picks up sensory stimuli; brings information into a
structure

• Efferent axon – sends direction from your brains to your muscles and
glands; carries information away from a structure

• Interneuron or Intrinsic neuron – if a cell’s dendrites and axon are

entirely contained within a single structure
Example: intrinsic neuron of thalamus has its axon and dendrites within
the thalamus
CNS PNS FUNCTION

Astrocyte Satellite cell Support

Oligodendrocyte Schwann cell Insulation, help form

myelin sheath

Microglia Immune

Ependymal cell Creating CSF; line cavities

NEURONAL PROCESSES
• PROLIFERATION – production of new cells, some cells remain,
others become primitive neurons & glia.
• MIGRATION – move radially from the inside of the brain to the
outside…chemicals known as immunoglobulins and chemokines guide
(deficits lead to decreased brain size & axon growth, mental
retardation); excess is linked to schizophrenia.
• DIFFERENTIATION – forming axon & dendrites
• MYELINATION – glia produce insulating fatty sheaths that
accelerate transmission in many vertebrate axons
• SYNAPTOGENESIS – formation of synapses, slower in older people.
NEW NEURONS LATER IN LIFE
• Neurons modify their shape, brain can no longer develop new neurons
(old belief).
• Olfactory receptors producing stem cells remain immature throughout
life; periodically divide with one cell remaining immature, while the
other differentiates to replace the dying olfactory receptor.
• Axon is grown back to appropriate site in the brain.
• Similar population of stem cells are found in the interior of the brain
that sometimes divide to form daughter cells that migrate to the
olfactory bulb and transform into glia cells or neurons.
NEURONAL SURVIVAL
• Initially, the SyNS forms far more neurons, when a neuron forms synapse into a
muscle, that muscle delivers a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF) that
promotes survival and growth of the axon.
• An axon that does not receive NGF degenerates, and its cell body dies, each neuron
starts life with “suicide program”.
• If axon would not connect with appropriate postsynaptic cell by a certain age, the
neuron kills itself through a process of apoptosis –programmed mechanism of cell
death.
• Necrosis – death caused by injury or toxic substance.
• NGF cancels the program for apoptosis it partners with an axon.
• Neurotrophin – chemical that promotes the survival and activity of neurons; in the
adult cerebral cortex, the NS responds to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF)
.
PATHFINDING BY AXONS
• Nerves attach to muscles at random and then send variety of messages where
each one tuned to a different muscle.
• Axons make trial connections with many post synaptic cells, and then each
post synaptic cell strengthens some synapses and eliminates others.
• Each thalamic neuron selects a group of axons that are simultaneously active.
• As the NS develops there are more neurons and synapses, then further
formation then selection and rejection process.
• Muscles do not determine how many axons form, rather how many would
survive .
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
• After axons reach their targets based on chemical gradients, the postsynaptic
cell fine tunes the connections based on experience, accepting certain
combinations of axons and rejecting others. This kind of competition among
axons continues throughout life.
• Initially, the NS develops far more neurons than will actually survive. Some
axons make synaptic contacts with cells that release to them nerve growth
factor or other neurotrophins. Neurons that receive neurotrophins survive,
others die.
• The developing brain is vulnerable to chemical insult. Many chemicals that
produce only mild, temporary problems for adults can permanently impair
early brain development.
NOURISHMENT OF VERTEBRATE
NEURONS
• Depends almost entirely on glucose, a simple sugar.
• The metabolic pathway that uses glucose, requires oxygen,
consequently, neurons consume enormous amount of oxygen compared
with cells of other organs.
• The body needs a vitamin, thiamine, to use glucose.
• Prolonged thiamine deficiency leads to death of neurons as seen in
Korsakoff's syndrome, a result of chronic alcoholism.
• Korsakoff's syndrome is marked by severe memory impairment.
NOURISHMENT OF VERTEBRATE
NEURONS
• Depend almost (cont’d)
entirely on Glucose (simple sugar).
• The metabolic pathway that uses glucose requires oxygen.
Why do neurons depend so heavily on glucose?
• It is the only nutrient that crosses the blood-brain barrier in adults.
The exception to this rule are ketones (a kind of fat), but ketones are seldom available
in large amounts.
• Glucose shortage is rarely a problem. Liver makes glucose from many kinds of
carbohydrate and amino acids, as well as from glycerol.
• An inability to use glucose can be a problem. Many chronic alcoholics have a diet
deficient including thiamine, a chemical that is necessary for the use of glucose.
Thiamine deficiency can lead to death of neurons and a condition called
Korsakoff’s syndrome, a severe memory impairments.
Blood-Brain Barrier
HOW BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER
WORKS
• Depends on the arrangement of endothelial cells that form the walls of
the capillaries.
• Outside the brain, such cells are separated by small gaps, but in the
brain, they are joined so tightly that virtually nothing passes between
them.
• Mechanism that keeps most chemicals out of the vertebrate brain.
• Allows vital nutrients to reach the brain.
Example: rabies
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRAIN
• Dendrites grow new branches.
• Development depends on experience and growth.
• CNS begin to form at the first 2 weeks of the human embryo.
• The dorsal surface thickens and then long thin lips rise, curl, merge,
form neural tube that surrounds a fluid-filled cavity.
Early Development of the Brain
Human Brain at Four Stages of Development
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
• Focal hand dystonia – inability to feel the difference between two
fingers, trouble controlling them separately; fingers become clumsy,
fatigue easily, make involuntary movements that interfere with the task.
• Even in adults, new neurons can be formed in the olfactory system, the
hippocampus, and the song-producing brain areas of some bird species.
• Growing axons manage to find their way close to the right locations by
following chemicals. They array themselves over a target areas by
following chemical gradients.
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
• At an early stage of development, the cortex is sufficiently plastic that
visual input cause what would have been the auditory cortex to develop
different properties and now respond visually.
• Enriched experience leads to greater branching of axons and dendrites,
partly because animals in enriched environments are more active than
those in deprived environments.
• Specialized experiences can alter brain development, especially early
in life e.g. in people who are born blind, representation of touch and
language invades areas usually reserved for vision.
THE VULNERABLE
DEVELOPING BRAIN
• Gastrulation – one of the early stages of embryological development.
• Impaired thyroid function produces lethargy in adults and mental
retardation in infants.
• Children of mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy may be born
with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) –characterized as hyperactive,
impulsive, difficult to maintain attention, motor problems, heart
defects, facial abnormalities
• Probably relates to apoptosis where alcohol suppresses the release of
glutamate (excitatory transmitter), enhances GABA (inhibitory
transmitter).
After Brain Damage
HOW DOES BRAIN PLASTICITY
• The human brain is composed of approximately 100 billion neurons.
WORK?• Early researchers believed that neurogenesis, or the creation of new neurons, stopped shortly
after birth.
• Today, it is understood that the brain possesses the remarkable capacity to reorganize pathways,
create new connections and, in some cases, even create new neurons.
• According to the website Neuroscience for Kids, there are four key facts about neuroplasticity:
• It can vary by age; while plasticity occurs throughout the lifetime, certain types of changes are
more predominant during specific life ages. •
• It involves a variety of processes; plasticity is ongoing throughout life and involves brain cells
other than neurons, including glial and vascular cells.
• It can happen for two different reasons; as a result of learning, experience and memory
formation, or as a result of damage to the brain.
• Environment plays an essential role in the process, but genetics can also have an influence.
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF BRAIN
DAMAGE
• Tumors, infections, exposure to radiation, toxic substances,
degenerative conditions.
• Closed brain injury – a sharp blow resulting from accident, assault,
sudden trauma
• Blood clots that interrupt blood flow
• Among adults, stroke
• Common type: ischemia – result of blood clot or other obstruction in
an artery
• Hemorrhage – ruptured artery
WHAT HAPPENS?
• In ischemia – neurons are deprived of blood and thus lose much of their oxygen and
glucose supplies.
• In hemorrhage, they are flooded w/ blood and excess oxygen, calcium and other
chemicals.
• Edema – accumulation of fluid, increased pressure on the brain and probability of
additional strokes
• Both ischemia and hemorrhage also impair sodium – potassium pump, leading to an
accumulation of sodium inside neurons
• The combination of edema and excess sodium provokes excess release of
neurotransmitter glutamate w/c overestimate neurons: Na & other ions enter neurons
faster than these can be removed
• The excess positive ions block metabolism in the mitochondria and kill the neurons, then
microglia cells proliferate removing products of dead neurons and provide neurotrophins
that promote survival of remaining neurons
Penumbra of Stroke (Ischemic)
IMMEDIATE TREATMENTS
• Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) – drug that breaks up blood clots
should be given within 3 hours after stroke.
• Penumbra – “almost shadow” try to prevent overstimulation by
blocking glutamate synapses.
• Cool the brain – although not certain too
BRAIN DAMAGE AND
RECOVERY
• Strokes kill neurons largely by excitation.
• During the first 3 hours of stroke, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)
can reduce cell loss, this should prevent over excitation of neurons.
• Cooling the brain or providing cannabinoids can reduce cell loss.
• When one brain area is damaged, other areas become less active than
usual because of loss of input, stimulant drugs can help restore normal
function of undamaged areas.
BRAIN DAMAGE AND
RECOVERY
• After an area of the CNS loses its usual input, other axons begin to
excite it as a result of either sprouting or denervation super
sensitivity. In some cases, this abnormal input produces odd sensations
such as phantom limb.
• Most recovery of function after brain damage relies on learning to
make better use of spared functions. Many individuals with brain
damage are capable of more than what they show because they avoid
using skills that have become impaired or difficult.
Brain Correlates of Music Practice
ACTION POTENTIAL:
DESCRIPTION
• Trigger zone – where action potential starts
• Graded potential – depolarization or the excitatory potential and hyperpolarization
or the inhibitory potential.
• Summation – failed initiations
• All or none law – a neuron must have enough stimulation of a certain type to fire or
it will not fire.
• Action potential do not decay over time unlike the graded potential.
• Axons that have myelin sheath conduct action potential faster than axons that don’t
have myelin sheath.
• Saltatory conduction – action potential appears to jump from node instead of
having a nice, smooth conduction along the axon.
RESTING MEMBRANE
DESCRIPTION
POTENTIAL:
• Inside of the neuron in negative charge relative to the outside environment.
• 60mV – common resting membrane potential
• Gradients – concentration differences
• Sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride and organic anions- important ions in the
nervous system.
• Concentration gradient – organic anions and potassium have higher concentration
inside than sodium, calcium and chloride.
• Electric force – each ion will be attracted to opposite charged ion
• Diffusion force – moving from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower
concentration.
RESTING MEMBRANE
MECHANISM
POTENTIAL:
• Sodium potassium pump – uses ATP to actively transport three Na ions in
exchange of two K outside of the neuron.
• Equilibrium potential – membrane potential where an ion has balanced
electrical and diffusion force.
• Chloride potassium symporter – drives chloride out of the neuron by
harnessing the diffusion force acting on potassium ions. It allows potassium to
move out of the neuron.
• Sodium calcium exchanger – allows sodium to enter the neuron in exchange
for pumping calcium out the neuron.
ACTION POTENTIAL:
MECHANISM
• Ions channels – leak channels and voltage-gated channels.
• Leak channels – always open, allows ions to move across the membrane down
their concentration gradient.
• Voltage-gated channels – open when membrane potential crosses a threshold
value.
• Sodium gated channels – cause depolarization. Automatically start to close at the
higher potential values so that sodium stops flowing into the neuron.
• Inactivate state – when it is close
• Potassium gated channels – causing to repolarize. Allowing K to flow out of the
neuron. Automatically start to close at lower potential values.
ACTION POTENTIAL:
MECHANISM
• Hyperpolarization or Refractory period – during this time, it’s
difficult or impossible to trigger another action potential.
• Absolute refractory period – sodium gated channels are unable to
open for a brief time because it is in inactivate state.
• Relative refractory period – sodium gated channels have become
functional again.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Axon Hillock, a swelling where the axon exits the soma.
• Propagation of the action potential describes the transmission of an action
potential down an axon.
• Local neurons, are neurons that do not have axons to exchange information.
• Myelin, an insulating material composed of fats and proteins.
• Myelinated axons, those covered with a myelin sheath.
• Myelinated axons, found only in vertebrates, are covered with fats and
proteins.
• Ranvier, Sections of axons
• Graded Potentials, membrane potentials that vary in magnitude without
following the all-or-none law.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
• All-or-None Law, The amplitude and velocity of an action potential
independent of the intensity of the stimulus that initiated it.
• Saltatory Conduction, from the Latin word saltare, meaning “to
jump”. The jumping of action potentials from the node.
• A demyelinating disease is any condition that results in damage to the
protective covering (myelin sheath) that surrounds nerve fibers in one’s
brain, optic nerves and spinal cord.
PROPAGATION OF THE ACTION
POTENTIAL
• Transmission of an action potential down an axon.
• The propagation of an animal species is the production of offspring; in
a sense, the action potential gives birth to a new action potential at each
point along the axon.
PROPAGATION OF THE ACTION
POTENTIAL
• Current that enters an axon during the action potential flows down the axon,
depolarizing adjacent areas of the membrane. The current flows more easily
through thicker axons. Behind the area of sodium entry, potassium ions exit.
PROPAGATION OF THE ACTION
POTENTIAL
REVIEW - ACTION POTENTIAL
• As a result of electrical stimulation (in a laboratory) or synaptic input (in nature), sodium
channels open and depolarize the axon membrane to its threshold.
• Sodium ions rush in and depolarize the membrane even further.
• Positive charge flows down the axon and opens voltage-gated sodium channels at the
next point.
• At the peak of the action potential, the sodium gates snap shut. They remain closed for
the next millisecond or so, despite the depolarization of the membrane.
• Because the membrane is depolarized, voltage-gated potassium channels open.
• Potassium ions flow out of the axon, returning the membrane toward its original
depolarization.
• After the membrane returns to its original level of polarization, the voltage-dependent
potassium channels close.
THE MYELIN SHEATH
• In the thinnest axons, action potentials travel at a velocity of less than 1 m/s.
increasing the diameter and conduction velocity up to about 10 m/s. At that
speed, an impulse along an axon to or from a giraffe’s foot takes about half a
second.
• To increase the speed up to about 100 m/s, vertebrate axons evolved a special
mechanism: sheaths of myelin, an insulating material composed of fats and
proteins.
• The principle behind myelinated axons, those covered with a myelin sheath, is
the same. Myelinated axons, found only in vertebrates, are covered with fats
and proteins.
• The myelin sheath is interrupted periodically by short sections of axon called
nodes of Ranvier
Each node is only about 1 micrometer wide. In most cases, the action
potential starts at the axon hillock, but a few exceptions are known at the
first node of Ranvier.
THE MYELIN SHEATH
• Suppose an action potential starts at the axon hillock and propagates along the axon until it reaches
the first myelin segment. The action potential cannot regenerate along the membrane between nodes
because sodium channels are virtually absent between nodes.
• After an action potential occurs at a node, sodium ions enter the axon and diffuse within the axon,
repelling positive ions that were already present and pushing a chain of positive ions along the axon
to the next node, where they regenerate the action potential.
SALTATORY CONDUCTION
• The jumping of action potentials from node to node is referred to as saltatory conduction,
from the Latin word saltare, meaning “to jump.”
• In addition to providing rapid conduction of impulses, saltatory conduction conserves energy:
Instead of admitting sodium ions at every point along the axon and then having to pump them
out via the sodium-potassium pump, a myelinated axon admits sodium only at its nodes.
• Multiple sclerosis is one of several demyelinating diseases, in which the immune system
attacks myelin sheaths.
• An axon that never had a myelin sheath conducts impulses, though at a relatively slow speed.
An axon that has lost its myelin is not the same. When myelin forms along an axon, the axon
loses its sodium channels under the myelin. (please find a video on saltatory conduction)
• If the axon loses myelin, it still lacks sodium channels in the areas previously covered with
myelin, and most action potentials die out between one node and the next. People with multiple
sclerosis suffer a variety of impairments, ranging from visual impairments to poor muscle
coordination.
LOCAL NEURONS
• Local Neurons are neurons without axon.
• Axons produce action potentials. However, some neurons do not have axons.
These neurons are smaller but very important.
• A local neuron receives information from other neurons and produces graded
potentials, membrane potentials that vary in magnitude without following the
all-or-none law.
• When a local neuron is stimulated, it depolarizes or hyperpolarizes in
proportion to the intensity of the stimulus.
• The change in membrane potential is conducted to adjacent areas of the cell, in
all directions, gradually decaying as it travels. Those various areas of the cell
contact other neurons, which they excite or inhibit through synapses (which we
consider in the next chapter).
IMPLICATIONS
• Fine tune our experience – remodel self in response to experience
• Design an enriched environment
• Music training and related trainings may harden the cortex
• Practicing a skill reorganizes the brain to maximize performance of
that skill