Central Nervous System

The central nervous system ('''CNS''') represents the largest part of the Nervous System . Together with the Peripheral Nervous System , it has a fundamental role in the control of Behavior .

Since the strong theoretical influence of Cybernetics in the fifties, the CNS is conceived as a system devoted to information processing, where an appropriate motor output is computed as a response to a sensory input. Yet, many threads of research suggest that motor activity exists well before the maturation of the sensory systems and then, that the senses only influence behavior without dictating it. This has brought the conception of the CNS as an autonomous system.

The whole CNS originates from the (caudal) and Brain (rostral). Consecutively, the brain will differentiate into Brainstem and Prosencephalon . Later, the brainstem will subdivide into Rhombencephalon and Mesencephalon , and the prosencephalon into Diencephalon and Telencephalon .

The CNS is covered by the Meninges , the brain is protected by the skull and the spinal cord by the vertebrae. The rhombencephalon gives rise to the Pons , the Cerebellum and the Medulla Oblongata , its cavity becomes the fourth ventricle. The mesencephalon gives rise to the Tectum , Pretectum , Cerebral Peduncle and its cavity develops into the Mesencephalic Duct or cerebral aqueduct. The diencephalon gives rise to the Subthalamus , Hypothalamus , Thalamus and Epithalamus , its cavity to the third ventricle. Finally, the telencephalon gives rise to the Striatum (caudate nucleus and putamen), the Hippocampus and the Neocortex , its cavity becomes the lateral (first and second) ventricles.

The basic pattern of the CNS is highly conserved throughout the different species of study of brain size among different species shows a striking continuity from rats to whales, and allows us to complete the knowledge about the evolution of the CNS obtained through Cranial Endocast s.

PARTS OF THE CNS

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Central Nervous System