Central Nervous System

Front 1

• General components of CNS
• Principle functions

Back 1

• brain and spinal cord - grey and white matter

• integrate/coordinate incoming and outgoing neural signals to carry out higher mental functions (e.g. Thinking, learning)
• integration and command control centre - integrates intro and determines response

Front 2

• nucleus
• tract

Back 2

• nucleus: collection of nerve cell bodies in the CNS

• tract: a bundle of nerve fibres (bundle of axons) within the CNS - connect neighbouring or distant nuclei within the cerebral cortex.

Front 3

• Grey matter
• White matter
• Horns

Back 3

• Grey: nerve cell bodies - found in the cortex of the brain, may be organised into nuclei - grey matter found deep (not within the cortex) is called nuclei

• white: interconnecting fibre tract systems (may be organised into tracts in the brain). White colour caused by myelinated axons

• struts/supports of the gray matter of the spinal cord that is embedded in a matrix of white matter: right/left and anterior/posterior (ventral/dorsal).

Front 4

• Spinal cord definition
• Length in adults

Back 4

• Cylindrical bundle of fibres and associated tissue, enclosed in the sound and connecting nearly all areas of the body to the brain

• from the lower border of the foramen magnum in the skull to the level of the intervertebral disc between first and second lumbar vertebrae