Understanding Brain Chemistry What is it that makes us human? Is it our actions, our sense of purpose, or our ability to keep our mind on as well as perform complex tasks? Is it that we analyze our own mental processes, as well as the processes of others? What exactly is a mental state, and what creates it? Is it a level of attentiveness, an impulse, or an emotional state? What is it that allows us to experience these things? The answers all lie within our brains. The brain, like the rest of the nervous system, is composed by and large of neuralgia (glial cells), nerve cells (neurons), that are immersed in a constant flow of cerebrospinal fluid. The glial cells far outnumber the neurons, but have no axons or synapses, and therefore do not play a part in the electrical activity of the brain. They are simpler looking, much smaller, and have lower metabolic rates than neurons. Another important difference includes that glial cells maintain the ability to recover from an injury and divide their entire lives. Virchow first identified these cells in 1846, and gave them the name “neurogila”, which means nerve glue. Glial cells are credited with holding the brain together, and preserving its physical structure. They are also said to provide both chemical and electric insulation for synapses, as well as the other components of the brain, and transportation for chemicals between neurons and capillaries. Finally, glial cells are thought to break down and/or synthesize the neurotransmitters released by the neurons they shelter. Many mental illnesses are mainly caused by disorders relating to the metabolism of neurotransmitters. Neurons are the cells that create brain activity, passing chemical and electric signals from on... ... middle of paper ... ... The future, and more research, holds the keys to many more of the mysteries locked within us. Bibliography: Works Cited Brain Chemistry. beatcfsandfms.org 7 Feb. 2001 Carter, Rita. Mapping the Mind. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998 Golden, Frederic. “Probing the Chemistry of the Brain” Time. 15 Jan. 2001: 157-2 Livingstone, Churchill. “Chemisms of the Brain”. Basic and Applied Neuochemistry. Ed. R. Rodnight, H. S. Bachelard, W. L. Stahl. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1981 Posner, Michael I, Marcus E. Raichle. Images of the Mind. New York: Scietific American Library, 1994 Siegel, George J., R. Wayne Albers, Robert Katzman, and Bernard W. Agranoff, eds. Basic Neurochemistry. 2nd ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976 Steiner, Meir, Kimberly A. Yonkers, Elias Eriksson. Mood Disorders in Women. London: Martin Dunitz Ltd, 2000
Astrocytes are star-shaped glial cells in the brain and spinal cord. They are the most abundant cell of the human brain. Astrocytes provide neurons with metabolic support, control local blood flow, and regulate the maintenance of synapses. They are a critical part of normal neural functioning. (3)
Glia cells are like the “glue”, they support the neurons of the Nervous system by holding them together.
The brain is an organ that regulates body functions, behaviors, and emotions. Neurons are the cells that fulfill these functions. How do neurons do this? A neuron plays an important role in the central nervous system. Why? Because neurons regulate how we think, feel, and control our body functions. A typical neuron has three parts: cell body, axon, and dendrites. When a neuron receives an electrical impulse, that impulse travels
In the last 20 years ago, there was a brain scientists that believed that neurons communicated to each other, they represented thoughts, and that glia were kind of like a stucco and mortar holding the house together. They were also considered simple insulators for neuron communication. There is a few of types of glial cells, but recently scientists have begun to focus on a particular type of glial cell it is called the astrocyte; it’s an abundant in the cortex. As you go up the evolutionary ladder, astrocytes in the cortex increase in size and number, with humans having the most astrocytes and also the biggest. Scientists also discovered that astrocytes communicate to themselves in the cortex and they are also capable of sending information to neurons. Astrocytes are also the adult stem cell in the brain and control blood flow to regions of brain activity.
...areas, and creation of gitter cells (Gehrmann et al., 1995). Moreover, considering the importance of microglial, without microglial cells, the CNS will not survive (mortality) from external environment substance and pathogens. Thirdly, microglial cells are also responsible for homeostasis, negative and positive feedback loop, in CNS (Aloisi, 2001). Microglia is known for achieving complex communication via triggering signals molecules with other astrocytes, neural tissues, T lymphocytes and hematopoietic stem cells (Aloisi, 2001).
Nerve cells generate electrical signals to transmit information. Neurons are not necessarily intrinsically great electrical conductors, however, they have evolved specialized mechanisms for propagating signals based on the flow of ions across their membranes.
The central nervous system is a collection of cells within the brain specialized to send specific signals throughout the body in order to relay the messages necessary for proper functioning. The way these cells, also called neurons, communicate with one another is through the process of releasing neurotransmitters. A balanced proportion of neurotransmitters are crucial for a healthy functioning mind. In situations where the neurotransmitters get out of sync by becoming too prevalent or sparse within the synaptic clefts, a wide spectrum of mental illness can be the result.
As the human body goes through different experiences, the brain grows, develops, and changes according to the environmental situations it has been exposed to. Some of these factors include drugs, stress, hormones, diets, and sensory stimuli. [1] Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to natural and abnormal stimuli experienced by the human body. The nervous system then reorganizes the brain’s structure and changes some of its function to theoretically repair itself by forming new neurons. [2] Neuroplasticity can occur during and in response to many different situations that occur throughout life. Some examples of these situations are learning, diseases, and going through therapy after an injury.
Neurobiology is a theory that deals with the brain and your nerves. It determines if you are a left or right brain person. One of the theorists is named Roger Sperry. He was a very big neurobiologist. A disease that deals with this theory is ADD/ADHD.
The brain consists of both neurons and glia cells. The neurons, which are cells housed in a cell body called a Soma, have branches which extend from them, referred to as dendrites. From these dendrites extend axons which send and receive impulses, ending at junction points called synapses. It is at these synapse points that the transfer of information takes place.
This paper involves how the brain and neurons works. The target is to display the brain and neurons behavior by sending signals. The nervous system that sends it like a text message. This becomes clear on how we exam in the brain. The techniques show how the brain create in order for the nerves about 100 billion cells. Neurons in the brain may be the only fractions of an inch in length. How powerful the brain could be while controlling everything around in. When it’s sending it signals to different places, and the neurons have three types: afferent neurons, efferent neurons, and the interneurons. In humans we see the old part of emotions which we create memories plus our brain controls heart beating, and breathing. The cortex helps us do outside of the brain touch, feel, smell, and see. It’s also our human thinking cap which we plan our day or when we have to do something that particular day. Our neurons are like pin head. It’s important that we know how our brain and neurons play a big part in our body. There the one’s that control our motions, the way we see things. Each neuron has a job to communicate with other neurons by the brain working network among each cell. Neurons are almost like a forest where they sending chemical signals. Neurons link up but they don’t actually touch each other. The synapses separates there branches. They released 50 different neurons.
Nervous system is one of the major organ systems that is responsible for the coordination of biological activities inside the body through cells called neurons. It is composed of the brain and spinal cord which are surrounded by protective layers of bone and membrane tissues called meninges. There are two major divisions in the nervous system; first one is the central nervous system (CNS) and the other being the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS is composed of the brain, spinal cord, and retina while the PNS includes the sensory neurons, ganglia, and connecting neurons. The nervous system applies control using nerves; almost as if sending a message by a telephone. The nervous system is fast due to its electrical nature. The nerve cells in this system are connected with each other in a complex manner where the neural pathways would be possible. Neural
The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system. The brain doesn't just control your organs, but also can think and remember. That part of the brain is called the mind.
What makes us human? What underlying characteristic differentiates humans from animals or Gods? Where does the essence of humanity lie?
What makes us human? What is it that we are made up of? I know a human has a body made up of two legs, two arms, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears, but that is not what makes us human. Human beings are made up of feelings, the ability to think, communication, and many other elements. Feelings show the way we feel between each other and is the reason for our survival. The ability to think is so important because just because we can think doesn’t always mean we do think. Communication is essential to human society. These are some of the elements I consider to be the most important of being human. Feelings, is something that makes us humans. Feelings, is one important element that makes us humans because that is how we can relate how others feel and that is the