Hello… everyone…
Today… We will delve into the contents of the Blob(The human Brain)… learning more about the contents that form the brain…the basic structural unit of the brain Called the Neuron!(sounds like Moron…😅 But well it’s the smartest cell in our Body….😎and if it decides to misbehave we would certainly be called as Morons then!😛)
Just a recap here… regarding the nervous system ….it has an axial organization . The brain and spinal cord, which constitute the central nervous system (CNS), run along the midline. The CNS receives information and sends messages through the various Neurons!. The basic structural and signal processing unit of the nervous system is the neuron.
Let’s see how the neuron works…on the inside….
A neuron is basically a cell, and hence has the basic features of a cell: the nucleus and cytoplasm, which form the cell body. But to meet its special functional needs, the cell body has extensions of the cytoplasm. The extensions which specialize in receiving messages are called dendrites, and the extensions which transmit messages from the cell body are the Axons.
So the neuron has a headquarter for itself …The Nucleus of the cell…. Imagine that a wise old man is sitting in a chamber looking at the computer screen where all the information/messages from the outside world are been displayed….he has many subordinates working for him analysing the information being received as he himself would be unable to to decode …..all of it.(approximately 30,000 signals that they receive every second… Isn’t it insane😨 amount of work!)….
Now the chief at the headquarter has to be efficient and take quick decisions regarding the response that has to be generated by the neuron….Once the decision is made ….the message is conveyed to the neighborhood Neurons via the speedy runners (some what like the Cartoon Road Runner💨) these carry the neurotransmitters .. and set a unidirectional chain of command… in motion …that ends as the (receptor organ or muscle)response to the stimulus received.
The Brain is made up of so many of these self sustaining Neurons… that take decisions and respond to a variety of different stimuli….quicky and efficiently once it has the status update on all the other systems of the body.
The speedy runners run on their respective tracts and deliver the messages. These tracts are present within the cytoplasmic extensions that take the signals away from the cell body …aka the Axons! (The longest axons extend from the Brain till your pinky toe! They can be that long….😵😱)
These tracts terminate at the end of Axons..the ends of Axons are a little swollen to increase the area of contact with the surface where it terminates… for more and better transmission of the messages with the help of the Neurotransmitters!..
The Neurotransmitters are either excitatory or inhibitory to the successive neuron …. Depending on the response desired. Each Neurotransmitters is like a unique key which fits into its respective slot on being released from the bulbous Axonal end.
This junctional space between the two Neurons is called a the Synapse!…
We’ll learn more about the Synapses and the various responses that are generated in subsequent posts…..😁
I hope this has been helpful and not boring …..and hope you guys liked it.
_Medha🐝
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