Neurophysiology Health Article

Definition

Neurophysiology is the study of the functions of the nervous system. Clinical neurophysiology is the study of the functions of the nervous system in the clinical setting, for diagnostics, treatment, and intensive care purposes.

Description

Neurophysiology is a broad field of study because many different levels are involved in the overall functioning of the nervous system and its components. For example, the transmission of a nervous impulse across the synapses, or the cleft that connects nerve cells, involves chemical reactions at the cellular level of organization. Understanding how messages are relayed from the brain to the hand is best explained at the system level. This involves studying the relationship and pathways between the brain and the organs of the body and the nerves that connect them, both sensory, meaning nerves that receive input from sensors, and motor, meaning the nerves that activate muscle. Thus, neurophysiology studies nervous function ranging from individual nerve cells to the complex behaviors of the central nervous system. Additionally, the nervous system not only functions at the cell and system levels of organization, but also at a mechanistic level, that involves the study of the control or regulatory processes that occur.

The neurophysiology of systems

A branch of neurophysiology describes the function of the major system components of the nervous system of the human body at the system level. The overall nervous system of the body consists of the central nervous system (CNS), and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The neurophysiology of the CNS studies the function of the brain and spinal cord while that of the PNS studies the function of all the nerves that connect the CNS with organs, muscles, blood vessels and glands. The neurophysiology of the PNS further subdivides into the somatic nervous system (SNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), with the ANS being further divided by function into the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.