Saturday, November 7, 2009

functions of spinal cord?

atleast 3 functions of spinal cord
Answer:
Spinal cord is cylindrical mass of nervous tissue about the thickness of Little finger. It extends from 1st Cervical vertebra i.e., atlas to the lower level of lumbar vertebra. It performs three main functions.
1. It acts as a link between brain and spinal nerves.
2. It conducts sensory and motor impulses to and from the brain.
3. It acts as a centre for the spinal reflexes i.e., an immediate involuntary stereotyped response to a stimulus. Thus reduces the brain's work.
The spinal cord not only mediates simple reflexes such as the tendon jerk but also generates coordinated sequences of movements. A recurring theme of the first session was the great versatility of interneurons. Jankowska reviewed the criteria for classifying interneurons and listed the well-recognised types such as Renshaw cells, as well as interneurons with a more tentative status. She summarised the ways interneurons can operate: combining into networks, shifting the balance of neuronal activity and selecting between pathways. She also reviewed the actions of neuromodulators, showing how they could differentially affect segmental and ascending pathways and influence interneurons by activating plateau potentials.
The main function of the spinal cord is transmission of neural inputs from the periphery to the brain and vice versa and is a vital structure in our survival and functional capacity.
Basically if you damage your spinal cord the consequences can be major. If you damage the area closest to the beginning of the spinal cord...you die, because it controls your breathing, anything below in can cause paralysis. Mostly just quad, and para. However, sometimes it is just minor and can be fixed with simple surgery.

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