• General Overview

  • Made of millions of nerve fibers.
  • Carries tiny electrical signals.

• Central Nervous System (CNS)

  • 🧠 Brain + Spinal Cord = CNS.
  • Major hub for sensing & control.

• Peripheral Nervous System

  • Nerves running from the spinal column to other body parts.

🤔 Real-world example: Think of the CNS as the computer's central processor (CPU) and the peripheral nervous system as the cables connecting peripherals like a keyboard and mouse.

• Sensory Neurons (a.k.a Afferent Neurons)

  • Carry signals to CNS.
  • Detect: body temp, blood pressure, oxygen levels, etc.

• Motoneurons (a.k.a Efferent System)

  • Info from CNS to muscles.
  • Signal muscles to chill (relax) or party (contract).
  • 🎉 Fun fact: Around 200,000 in our body!

• Interneurons

  • The mediators! Link afferent neurons to motoneurons.
  • They can hype up (excitatory) or calm down (inhibitory) neural signals.

🤔 Real-world example: Imagine a busy call center. Sensory neurons are like callers reporting data, motoneurons are like agents giving commands based on that data, and interneurons are the managers directing traffic between them!

• Soma (Cell Body)

  • Resides in spinal cord or close clusters named ganglia.

• Dendrites

  • Connect neurons, sharing the latest gossip (information).

• Axon

  • Nerve signal's superhighway.
  • Rocking a protective coat, the myelin (keeps signals safe & sound).
  • Myelin has rest stops called nodes of Ranvier for signal boost!

• Neuromuscular Junction

  • Where neuron and muscle meet and greet.
  • Between them is the synapse, a tiny gap for passing the electrical 'hello' to the muscle.

🤔 Real-world example: Imagine the axon as an insulated electric wire. The myelin is like the plastic coating, and the nodes of Ranvier are like the copper bits peeking through for better conductivity!