🧠 Central Neural System: Your Body’s Command Center

🌈 What Does the Brain Do?

The brain is your body’s command and control system! It:

  • 🧠 Controls voluntary movements (like waving 👋)
  • ⚖️ Maintains body balance
  • ❤️ Runs involuntary organs (heart, lungs, kidneys)
  • 🌡️ Manages body temperature (thermoregulation)
  • 🍔🧋 Regulates hunger and thirst
  • ⏰ Controls 24-hour body rhythms (circadian rhythms)
  • 💬 Handles vision, hearing, speech, memory, emotions, and thoughts!

🛡️ Brain Protection

Your brain is shielded by:

  1. Skull (outer bony armor)
  2. Meninges (3 protective layers):
    • 🔹 Dura mater (tough outer layer)
    • 🔸 Arachnoid (thin middle layer)
    • 🔹 Pia mater (inner layer touching the brain)

🧩 Brain’s 3 Main Parts

1. Forebrain 🧠✨

Includes cerebrum, thalamus & hypothalamus

  • Cerebrum:
    • Split into left & right hemispheres 🌓
    • Connected by corpus callosum (nerve fiber bridge)
    • Surface = cerebral cortex (grey matter from neuron bodies)
    • Inside = white matter (myelin-covered fibers)
    • Has motor areas (movement), sensory areas (senses), and association areas (memory, communication)
  • Thalamus: 🚦 Major relay center for sensory & motor signals
  • Hypothalamus:
    • Controls body temp 🌡️, hunger 🍔, thirst 🧋
    • Secretes hormones (hypothalamic hormones)
  • Limbic System (with amygdala, hippocampus):
    • Manages emotions 😄😠, sexual behavior, and motivation!

2. Midbrain 🧠⏺️

  • Located between forebrain and hindbrain
  • Has cerebral aqueduct (fluid canal)
  • Dorsal part = corpora quadrigemina (4 round lobes)

3. Hindbrain 🧠🔻

  • Pons: 🌉 Fiber tracts connecting brain regions
  • Cerebellum:
    • Convoluted surface (extra space for neurons!)
    • Manages balance & coordination 🤸‍♂️
  • Medulla oblongata:
    • Connects brain to spinal cord
    • Controls respiration 💨, heartbeat ❤️, and gastric secretions 👩‍🍳

🧠💡 Brain Stem = Survival Central!

Made of midbrain + pons + medulla. It:

  • Connects brain to spinal cord
  • Handles critical reflexes (breathing, heart rate)

🚀 NEET Super-Important Concepts

  1. Hypothalamus Functions: Controls temperature, hunger, thirst, and hormone secretion.
  2. Cerebrum Structure: Grey matter (cortex) vs. white matter (myelin fibers), hemispheres, corpus callosum.
  3. Hindbrain Controls: Medulla manages breathing/heartbeat; cerebellum handles balance.
  4. Limbic System: Emotion, motivation, and memory center.
  5. Brain Protection: Skull + meninges (dura, arachnoid, pia mater).

Keep smiling while studying — your brain loves positivity! ✨