VAN 121: Veterinary Gross Anatomy-II (2+2)

INTRODUCTION TO NEUROLOGY

• Neurology is the study of nervous system. This system is a complex mechanism by which the organism is brought into functional relation with the environment and the functions of the various systems are co-ordinated.
• The activity of the nervous system controls two spheres of activity. It is through the nervous system that the animal is enable to react to alterations in the external environment and to various external stimuli. The part of the nervous system controlling this is known as the somatic component and it is through the nervous system that all the other systems in the body are co-ordinated, so that their activities are directed towards the benefit of the organism as a whole and this part is termed as the visceral component of the autonomic nervous system.
• The somatic component is responsible for the transmission of impulses from the somatic receptors and its reactions in the locomotor apparatus of the body. These somatic receptors consist of various types of end organs which are concerned with transmission of
  • Exteroceptive impulses like pain, pressure, tactile sense and temperature
  • Proprioceptive impulses from muscles, tendons and joints
  • Special senses of vision, hearing and equilibrium. The effector part consists of the cranial nerves or the motor cells in the ventral gray column of spinal cord and their axons that terminate in the motor end plates in the skeletal muscles.
• The visceral or splanchnic component controls the activities of secretary glands, plain musculature and cardiac muscle. The receptor part deals with perception of visceral pain and other sensations like those of hunger, thirst and the special senses like gustatory and olfactory function.
• For descriptive purposes, the nervous system is divided as follows:

Nervous System

• Central Nervous System (CNS)
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
• Brain, Spinal cord - Cranio spinal Autonomus Nervous System (ANS)
• Cranial Spinal -Sympathetic, Parasympathetic nerves (Thoracolumbar) (Cranio sacral)