Mary Arabelle M. Docena
MT 30 – DD
The nervous system controls the ability to sense the environment, including the ability to see, hear, and smell things. Likewise, does the capacity to identify your current location and recall if you have been there previously. The nervous system actually plays a role in the ability to even wonder how you know where you are!

The nervous system’s network of connected cells is essential to all of these functions. Specialized cells make up the nervous system, just as they do the heart, lungs, and stomach. These comprise glial (or glia) cells and nerve cells (or neurons). The fundamental building blocks of the nervous system are neurons, which are able to swiftly and over great distances transfer information by producing electrical signals known as action potentials.

Generally speaking, you can consider a neuron to be a tiny, independent information processor. It takes in data, processes it, and produces outputs. The dendrite is most closely linked to receiving, the cell body, also known as the soma, is most closely linked to processing, and the axon—more especially, the terminal buttons—is most closely linked to output. At a little more technical level, we discover that dendritic spines—specialized regions on the dendrites—are typically where brain impulses are received. Regarding the cell body, the “processing” really takes place inside the nucleus. In keeping with our analogy of the nerve cell as an independent information processor, we might consider the nucleus to be the “brain” of the cell, the source of many critical cellular processes. It’s also important to remember that the terminal buttons share the common trait of containing neurotransmitters, which are chemical messengers. The communication between neurons is carried out by these chemical messengers.

References:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/neuron-nervous-system/a/overview-of-neuron-structure-and-function

Click to access neuron.pdf