1. Which of the following analogies best describes the functional relationship between two different parts of a neuron?

A. A dendrite is to an axon terminal, as postsynaptic input is to presynaptic output.
B. A cell body is to a dendrite, as synaptic output is to synaptic integration.
C. A cell body is to synaptic output, as an axon is to action potential conduction.
D. A dendrite is to neurotransmitter release, as an axon terminal is to postsynaptic membrane neurotransmitter receptors.

Comment: The dendrite is the input side of a neuron, where postsynaptic neurotransmitter receptors are located; the cell body integrates synaptic information and provides support; the axon initiates and conducts action potentials; the axon terminal is the presynaptic site, where neurotransmitter is released at the synapse. This is the correct answer because both parts of the analogy correctly identify the order of information flow.

2. A 74-year-old man had a sudden blockage of an artery that supplied a portion of the white matter in the pons. Which of the following neuron components is located within a white matter tract?

A. Dendrite
B. Cell body
C. Axon
D. Axon termination

3. Which of the following best lists the parts of neurons that are located in a nucleus?

A. Cell bodies only
B. Cell bodies and dendrites
C. Cell bodies, axons, and dendrites
D. Cell bodies, dendrites, axons, and axon terminals

Comment: A nucleus contains mostly cell bodies. However, in addition to neuron cell bodies, incoming axons to a nucleus synapse on the dendrites of neuron cell bodies in the nucleus. Neurons in the nucleus give rise to axons that project from the nucleus. Axons also may make local synaptic connections within the nucleus.

4. A person suffers from a traumatic brain injury. There is bleeding and inflammation at the injury site. Which of the following cell types plays a phagocytic role in eliminating blood and tissue debris?

A. Astrocytes
B. Microglia
C. Schwann cells
D. Neurons

5. A 36-year-old woman, who was otherwise healthy, developed a progressive impairment in tactile sensation in her hands and feet. MRI revealed multiple foci of demyelination in the white matter of her brain stem and spinal cord. She subsequently was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Which of the following statements best describes the cellular change producing her disease?

A. The patient has degeneration of axons in the cervical and lumbar ventral roots.
B. The disease reflects primarily an impairment in oligodendrocyte and formation of the myelin sheath in the spinal cord.
C. The disease results in the loss of Schwann cells and formation of the myelin sheath in the spinal cord.

Comment: There is a loss of or damage to the myelin sheath of axons conducting information about touch from the hands and feet within the central nervous system. Oligodendrocytes form the myelin sheath around axons in the central nervous system; Schwann cells form the myelin sheath around peripheral axons. As a consequence of the loss of the myelin sheath, action potentials in these damaged axons are poorly conducted; more slowly or not at all (called action potential block). This leads to the impaired sensation.

6. Ependymal cells are located in which of the following nervous system structures?

A. Cerebral arteries
B. Ventricles
C. Cerebral cortex
D. Sensory ganglia

7. Which of the following is NOT part of the peripheral nervous system?

A. Motor neuron cell body
B. Sympathetic ganglia
C. Dorsal root
D. Ventral root

8. Which of the following is NOT a feature of the autonomic nervous system?

A. Innervation of glands
B. Innervation of smooth muscle of the gut
C. Innervation of striated limb muscles
D. Innervation of smooth muscle in blood vessel walls

Comment: The autonomic neuron innervates smooth muscle of blood vessels within muscle but not somatic striated muscle cells, which are innervated by somatic motor neurons.

9. Which of the following best describes sulci and gyri?

A. Functional regions of the brain are located on gyri.
B. Sulci separate the lobes of the brain.
C. Gyri are the bumps, and sulci are the grooves that separate the gyri.
D. Sulci are the bumps, and gyri are the grooves that separate the sulci.

10. Which of the following best describes the location of major brain regions?

A. The thalamus is located rostral to the midbrain.
B. The basal ganglia are located ventral to the cerebellum.
C. The midbrain is located caudal to the medulla.
D. The cerebellum is located ventral to the pons.

11. A patient has a tumor in the region of the insular cortex. Which of the following choices BEST describes the location of the tumor?

A. It is buried beneath the brain surface, under the frontal lobe.
B. It is buried beneath the frontal and parietal lobes.
C. It is buried beneath the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes.
D. It is buried beneath the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes.

12. A 27-year-old male baseball pitcher was hit in the head with a baseball. He was brought to the emergency room. Radiological examination revealed that at the site of impact of the ball hitting his head, there was a skull fracture over his left orbit. MRI revealed damage to the portion of the brain underlying the fracture site. Which of the following brain structures most likely suffered trauma?

A. Inferior frontal lobe
B. Postcentral gyrus
C. Calcarine fissure
D. Basal forebrain

13. Complete the following using the most appropriate choice: The falx cerebri separates

A. the occipital lobes and the cerebellum
B. the cerebellum and the medulla
C. the two cerebral hemispheres
D. the two halves of the diencephalon

14. The atrium of the lateral ventricle is located within which major central nervous system division?

A. Pons
B. Cerebellum
C. Cerebral cortex
D. Diencephalon

15. A brain MRI in the coronal plane would not image, on a single slice, which pair of listed brain regions?

A. Frontal lobe and temporal lobe
B. Frontal lobe and occipital lobe
C. Parietal lobe and cerebellum
D. Temporal lobe and lateral ventricle