What is the path and/or structure of the CNS? Linear or circular, spiral or non-linear, or something other?

Question

One hint ; there are nerve ends with strong feedbacks to the CNS.

Answer 1

The Central Nervous System consists of the Brain and Spinal Cord. It contains millions of neurones (nerve cells). If you slice through some fresh brain or spinal cord you will find some areas appear grey whilst other ares appear rather white. The white matter consists of axons, it appears white because it contains a lot of fatty material called myelin. The myelin sheath insulates an axon from its neighbours. This means that nerve cells can conduct electrical messages without interfering with one another. The grey matter consists of cell bodies and the branched dendrites which effectively connect them together. So this area is mainly cytoplasm of nerve cells which is why it appears white. The brain communicates with the rest of the body through the spinal cord and the nerves. They tell the brain what is going on in the body at all times. This system also gives instructions to all parts of the body about what to do and when to do it


Neurones: a neurone is a nerve cell; it has a cell body, a very long axon sheathed in myelin, and many tiny branches called dendrites. There are three kinds of neurones: sensory, intermediate and motor neurones.

Axons: these are long cytoplasmic tubes, they carry electric impulses from one part of the body to another. They are insulated from each other by their myelin sheathes.

Dendrites: these are tiny branches on the cell body and at the ends of all neurones. The dendrites of one cell do not actually touch the dendrites of any other cell. There are very tiny gaps between them called synapses.

Synapses: these are the gaps between the dendrites of one neurone and the cell body of another one. There is no electrical connection between nerve cells. when one neurone stimulates another it does so by secreting a chemical into the synapse. Many drugs work by interfering with these chemical transmitters.

Grey Matter: this is the material in the brain and spinal cord which contains the cell bodies and dendrite of nerve cells. It is mainly cytoplasm. It appears grey to the naked eye. So if someone says you have not got much grey matter, they are being very rude.

White Matter: this is the material in the brain and spinal cord which contains the axons and myelin sheathes of nerve cells. It is mainly myelin which is a fat, so it appears white to the naked eye.

Answer 2

The path is circular.
You have a sensory nerve to pick up the sensation.This nerve brings the sensation(stimulus) to the CNS and then the CNS sends the direction or command through the motor nerve.
In case of spinal cord, you must have seen "reflex arc". This is circular(feed back).