Questions tagged [central-nervous-system]
The complex of nerve tissues including the brain and spinal cord, but excluding the peripheral nervous system.
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Does the nature of nervous impulses give us a finite number of things we can perceive?
This is a subject that is very disturbing to me and one that I've been obsessing over for years. I warn you now that this is probably not the sort of thing you get asked on this website and I'm not ...
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25 views
How does (action potential) hyper-polarisation work?
I understand that after depolarisation, repolarisation and then hyperpolarisaiton occurs and that an area in hyperpolarisation is in its "refractory period".
Why does this prevent Na+ ions diffusing "...
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Stem cells therapy for stroke via thecal sac?
According to this video posted below, stem cells for stroke patients can be induced to thecal sack, below the spinal cord.
Those stem cells would make their way up to the brain.
https://youtu.be/...
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61 views
Why are spinal nerves considered a part of PNS while the spinal cord is a part of CNS?
So from my common understanding, CNS consists of brain and spinal cord, and PNS consists of everything else. But the spinal nerves - the nerves connected to the spinal cord - why are those considered ...
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Why are higher doses of atropine required to produce central effects?
Reason given in my book is restricted entry into the brain..is it something to do with the chemisty?
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14 views
Mild introduction to selective advantage of intelligence/nervous systems in animals?
I have a general understanding of why intelligence, i.e. nervous systems in animals, is advantageous: processing information allows an animal to adapt to its environment dynamically and perform ...
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287 views
Why is the hippocampus considered to be a cortical structure but not the amygdala?
I'm having some trouble understanding the anatomical differences that classify the hippocampus as a cortical structure but not the amygdala. I have included the screenshot of a diagram from Gray's ...
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38 views
Results of self-administration study about pain in honeybees?
There research on nih.gov about ability of bees feel pain. But I can't understand their conclusion. Could you provide necessary excerpts here from those study so it would be clear what conclusion they'...
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Any known values of density for spinal cord (pig or human)?
Need to know the density of spinal cord tissue to evaluate the shear modulus from ultrasound elastography (shear wave velocity) measurements, but need the density of the tissue to compute this.
I am ...
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176 views
Is it possible to Interpret Nerve Signals As to Where They Are Going In The Human Body And What Their Task Is? [closed]
I have recently watched some anime, (yes, anime, probably a huge cause to lots of questions asked on the internet), and it got me thinking. We can intercept nerve signals throughout the body, but ...
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498 views
Why do nerve gas victims have chronic neurological issues?
The article on Wikipedia says the following:
The effects of nerve agents are long lasting and increase with continued exposure. Survivors of nerve agent poisoning almost invariably suffer chronic ...
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If motor neurons are part of the CNS, what is the PNS made of? [closed]
It is my understanding that motor neurons transmit messages to the myocytes of skeletal muscles all over the body. This should make them part of the peripheral nervous system that transmits both the ...
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136 views
Does GABA help or hinder anxiety?
This article
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smartphone-addiction-creates-imbalance-in-brain-300558945.html
Says both
The researchers performed MRS exams on the addicted youth prior to ...
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294 views
Are all cone cells connected directly to the brain?
Coming from a computing science background, I noticed that cameras have orders of magnitude fewer wires than pixels. For example, the Raspberry Pi Camera v2 has 8 megapixels, but only 10 wires ...
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158 views
How do nerve impulses travel so quickly?
Nerve impulses must travel incredibly fast to achieve the functions they do. However, I have been taught that sodium ions move down the axons by diffusion (thus causing depolarisation of the next part ...
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Why are some neurones unmyelinated?
As far as I am aware, most of the central nervous system consists of myelinated axons and most of the peripheral consists of unmyelinated.
What is the reason for this?
Would it not be more ...
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An introduction to nuclei in the pons?
I have a couple of questions regarding the nuclei in the pons, thus I figured it would be best to frame the main question in the way that I did.
My main question, however, is whether the basal ...
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131 views
Why are “itch signals” transmitted so slowly from the skin to the human brain?
In the second half of the BBC radio (and podcast) program Cats and Itch;
Discovery, The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry Episode 2 of 5 the phenomenon and origin of the "itch" and related ...
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208 views
Alcohol consumption and central nervous system
After alcohol intake, the cerebrum related functions like vision and speech is affected first and later on there's problem with the cerebellar functions like balancing and hand-eye coordination.
My ...
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Nervous stimuli and neurotransmitters and impacts
As far my knowledge, in body parts generally **acetacholine ** is the neurotransmitter. Which is responsible for most nervous impulses.
Consider a body part, say, foot. Only one nerve reaches here. ...
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1answer
41 views
Seizures and blood pressure
A seizure is basically a synchronized firing of neurons as opposed to the more common unsynchronized firing taking place during normal neural activities. However, I am uncertain if the exact technical ...
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1answer
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Neurons during Numb feeling
We become numb when there is short supply of blood to some parts, as mentioned here.
If that is the reason, why don't neurons and other cells die at that part if they don't receive oxygen and other ...
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How do our eyes detect light at different frequencies?
Here is my confusion: we can see colored light of different wavelengths: form red to violet. To my understanding, these stimuli cause a confirmational change in the photoreceptors in our eyes and ...
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Do lobsters possess a nervous system to feel pain?
I was reading an article, which it mentions that lobsters do not have a nervous system:
Lobsters have very poor eyesight and no nervous system. They walk slowly
on the sea floor but are capable ...
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997 views
Is the bipolar neuron of the retina considered a sensory neuron?
Any neuron that participates in sending impulses from receptors to CNS are referred as sensory neurons. But I often see bipolar neurons of eye(which according to the above definition should be sensory ...
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2answers
93 views
At what stage is the nervous system developed enough to interpret neuronal signals as 'pain'?
According to this article in Live Science, one of the reasons the fetus can't feel pain until 19 weeks is because the nervous system isn't fully developed.
But according to this article, the heart ...
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1answer
645 views
How a nerve impulse reaches the correct destination?
Say your brain wants to retract your right hand.
If there is some information coding playing a major role here, then what is the mechanism to find the correct path to reach the correct muscle?
Or is ...
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4answers
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Are there organisms with fewer than 1000 neurons?
I'm developing neural networks comprised of just 3 to 10 layers of virtual neurons and I'm curious to know if there are any insect brains out there with fewer than a thousand neurons?
Are there any ...
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2answers
3k views
Why is bacterial meningitis worse than viral meningitis?
My field is not biology related, but it is commonly said that bacterial meningitis is far more dangerous to the individual than the viral kind. It seems to be true even with antibiotic treatment. What ...
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227 views
Why are interneurons needed in the spinal cord for polysynaptic reflexes and somatosensory tracts to the brain?
The single explanation I found for the polysynaptic reflex is that the interneuron diverges into more pathways, such as the efferent motor neuron, the inhibitory neuron to the opposite extensor muscle,...
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1answer
2k views
Differences in the action of Scopolamine and Atropine
Both Scopolamine and Atropine are muscarinic antagonists, having essentially the same action: blocking parasympathetic nerve receptors.
The action on the brain by muscarinic antagonists is presumed ...
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1answer
52 views
Photoreceptors and light with mixed frequencies
I am interested in how the activation of a, say, blue cone depends on the incident light. Wikipedia tells me this:
,
which describes how strong the activation of the blue cone is for light with a ...
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1answer
460 views
Can low temperatures induce a withdrawal reflex?
I read in "Essentials of Pathophysiology: Concepts of Altered Health States
By Carol Porth" that
"The thermal pain receptors are stimulated only by extremes of temperature such as "freezing cold" ...
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1answer
634 views
Why is Capsaicin injection not used instead of nerve surgeries for pain?
High concentration capsaicin kills c & a-delta nerve fibers permanently or at least long term.
This has been known for 30 years.
But capsaicin is only used in creams and patches, and not for ...
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2answers
795 views
Do all nerves in the body end at the tongue? [closed]
I saw this someone but have searched on google to affirm or deny it, but didnt find anything on all nerves ending in the tongue. Please help
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29 views
Is the CNS vascularized?
I was under the impression that the CNS is never penetrated by blood vessels, which explains why one never sees them in histological samples.
However a google search reveals I am wrong. So can ...
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1answer
2k views
What would happen if nerves didn't have refractory period? [closed]
What would happen if nerves didn't have refractory period? And, what part of his nervous system or neurons are not needed?
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2answers
3k views
What is the difference between the neural tube and the dorsal ventral cord?
I was wondering what the difference is between the neural tube and the dorsal ventral cord.
I know that the neural tube forms during embryonic development from the ectoderm layer that folds inwards.
...
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1answer
126 views
In theory how fast could nerve signals travel if the nerve fibre was perfectly insulated?
My question is purely theoretical and my main aim is to find out the maximum speed that a nerve signal can travel within a nervous system and and whether this speed represents the physical limit of ...
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2answers
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Why we shiver/tremble/shake while performing some work which requires high accuracy?
Shivering when nervous or anxious is a common thing.
But, shivering or trembling sometimes also occurs when we are performing a work which requires high accuracy. In such case, our whole body doesn't ...
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1answer
513 views
Examples of seeking behavior by brainless animals
Are there any examples of brainless animals (e.g. jellyfish) exhibiting seeking behavior, such as following smell or light gradients towards food, or following hormones towards mates?
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How are targets formed for axon growth cones (CNS)?
Axons have growth cones which find a route to their target using multiple methods (guidepost cells, attraction to target, etc...). My question is, what is the process that actually forms the target? ...
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CNS lymphatic vessels around ventricles lat et 4th?
I am searching for precise locations of the lymphatic vessels of the CNS based on the applications of the article here.
However, I did not find any when having a focus on the immediate region around ...
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1answer
680 views
Why does our mouth “water”?
Whenever we see something delicious, rapid salivation starts in our mouth. Also, it doesn't happen for all other food, which we eat regularly.
So, Is there any particular use of "rapid salivation"? ...
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523 views
How are neural networks encoded in the DNA? [closed]
The central nervous systems as well as the brain->muscles and sensory cells->brain nervous pathways, need to be precisely wired for life to be possible. Moreover they are wired almost exactly the same ...
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2answers
296 views
Can the spinal cord contain an “epileptic focus”?
I was wondering, is there a possibility of an something similar to an epileptic focus to exist within the spinal cord?
Note I am using the terminology "epileptic" loosely here, principally for the ...
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1answer
3k views
How are reflexes suppressed?
What neurophysiological process keeps reflex arcs in check? For example, the withdrawal reflex causes the hand to jerk back when the fingers touch something painfully hot incidentally. However, that ...
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3answers
551 views
Why are our muscles limited to 7 Hertz?
I have heard from a (usually very knowledgeable) friend before, that a human can only tap his fingers 7 times per second.
I generalized this to "our muscles are limited to 7 hertz"
When my wife ...
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Is the autonomic nervous system only activated by internal stimuli?
My professor claims that the autonomic nervous system is only activated by stimuli from organs but I really feel like I've read that it can be activated by outside stimuli, although I'm not sure what ...
