Encyclopedia > Nervous system

  Article Content

Nervous system

The nervous system of an animal coordinates muscle movement, monitors the organs, constructs and processes impressions from the senses, and initiates actions. In animals with brains, it also generates and conducts thoughts and emotions. Thus it is the system that animates "animals" (sponges are the exception). Chemicals that target the activity of nerves generally are the most rapidly acting toxins[?], typically causing paralysis and/or death.

The nervous system consists basically of two types of cells:

Neurons are the primary cells of the nervous system, in that they more or less independently conduct the system's moment-to-moment activities, whereas glia play what at least appears to be a more supporting role, such as nourishment and structural support.

Rapid signalling within the nervous system occurs by two primary mechanisms:

For heuristic and other purposes, the nervous system is divided into the central and the peripheral nervous systems, of which the autonomic nervous system is part.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
242

... 210s 220s 230s - 240s - 250s 260s 270s 280s 290s Years: 237 238 239 240 241 - 242 - 243 244 245 246 247 Events Patriarch Titus[?] succeeds Patriarch Eugenius I[?] as ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 23.4 ms