The Nervous system It is one of the most important systems of the body, it has multiple functions that are based on receiving and processing information from the environment and from within the body in order to regulate the functioning of other organs and systems, which can do both by direct action and by supporting the endocrine system through the regulation of the release of factors that stimulate the secretion of different hormones.
How is it made?
This system is made up of the brain, cerebellum, brain stem, spinal cord and peripheral nerves, it is classified into the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system comprises the part covered by a bone protection system formed by the skull and the vertebral canal of the vertebrae, while the peripheral nervous system is formed by the extensions or nerve paths that start from the spinal cord to the various tissues.
The importance of neurons
The structures of the nervous system are made up of a special type of cell known as neurons. These cells have very particular characteristics that differentiate them from other cells in the body, mainly that they have long extensions and that they do not have the ability to regenerate, so once they are injured or die, the function they led to is lost. It is for this reason that neurological diseases are so devastating, they are usually progressive and there is no possibility of curing the damage, as in diseases such as dementia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, paralysis due to strokes or injuries of the spinal cord and cerebral palsy among many others.
Neurons have a body that is the cell itself and a series of extensions, known as dendrites and axons, that allow it to receive and send information to other neurons with which they are related through junctions known as synapses, the mechanism as neurons are related to each other through the release of substances known as neurotransmitters. The neuronal bodies are found in the central nervous system and give rise to groups known as gray matter, the processes of neurons are lined by a myelin sheath or envelope and form the white matter.
An information center
The nervous system has a topographic distribution of information, each signal or message is transmitted by well-defined nerve conduction pathways, some of them have relays or connections in various areas of the brain, this is important to be able to carry out higher mental functions in which association or integration of information is required as in learning, facts such as this explain the association between phenomena such as, for example, that seeing a sharp object generates a protective withdrawal behavior, by associating the object with a potential injury or remembering even a painful event from an experience with such objects or reliving a related traumatic situation.
