Scooby and the Gang get invited to go to a Halloween party in Transylvania, Romania. On their way, Velma tells the rest of the gang what she learned in her Anatomy class the day before. Daphne, Fred and Shaggy all try to ignore her but she won’t stop talking.

Velma: “The ‘CNS’ stands for the central nervous system while the ‘PNS’ stands for the peripheral nervous system.”

Fred: “Wow, that’s really fascinating Velma”

Shaggy: “What does this have to do with anything?”

Velma: “Well the central nervous system includes your brain and spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system is made up of nerves, all of which allow you to move and talk.”

Shaggy: “Seems kind of boring to me”

Daphne: “I agree, who even cares about that stuff”

Velma: “You never know, someday you might need to know information like that”

When they enter the house, nobody is there.

Fred: Hello? Is anybody here?

Daphne: I don’t think anybody is here, let’s split up and look around.

Shaggy: Scoob and I will look in the kitchen.

Scooby and Shaggy venture off to the kitchen while Daphne, Fred, and Velma look around on the first floor.

As they search around for anybody at the house, Velma continues to share what she learned in class.

Velma: Do you guys know what the spinal meninges are?

Daphne: No Velma

Velma: Well, they are membranes or layers that wrap around the spinal cord and brain to protect them and carry your blood.

Daphne: Velma, we don’t care.

Fred: I think it’s quite interesting actually

Velma: Thanks Fred, and the spinal cord is a highway for your nerves to travel to send signals to and from the brain.

Shaggy: You know that stuff Velma was telling us earlier about the brain and everything?

Scooby: *nods head*

Shaggy: I don’t understand any of it. All of this thinking is making me hungry.

Scooby: *nods head*

They open the refrigerator and they find jars filled with different parts of the human body.

Velma, Fred and Daphne find flashlights and go down into the dark basement. They find a diagram of the spinal cord.

Velma: I remember this! This part right here is the white matter, which is what sends the signals to the brain quicker because it has these things called “myelinated axons”. Myelin is basically a substance of fat that speeds up the signals traveling along the axons which run throughout the body.

Velma: The “ascending tracts” or the lines that go towards the brain contain sensory info. But the ones that go in the opposite direction are “descending tracts”. They carry motor commands that go to the nerves which allow your body to function. Gray matter that is made up of unmyelinated tissue. This means that within this area, the signals don’t travel as fast as they would with the white matter.

Velma opens a cabinet & finds a message:

“Down in here you’ll find nothing to help you

But upstairs you’ll find a box of clues

Open it and follow the steps

To lead you to what is true”

Velma, Fred and Daphne all go upstairs and check out one of the rooms

Inside, is a list of information about the spinal cord written on paper.

Daphne: I found something but I don’t know what it means. What are ventral and dorsal roots?

Velma: Oh those are easy, see ventral roots is a pathway where the motor signals travel through out down from the brain. And-

Fred: Dorsal roots must be where the sensory impulses pass along towards the brain.

Velma: Exactly

Velma: Hey look at this picture!

Fred: What is it?

Velma:

Daphne: Looks confusing to me

Velma: No, it’s actually quite simple

Velma: The body has four major plexuses, or divisions of web like pathways where certain signals are sent through to perform tasks.

Daphne: Well what are the four major ones?

Velma: Brachial, cervical, sacral and lumbar

Fred: I’m guessing the brachial plexus is where nerves travel through to tell the arm to move up or down, right?

Velma: That’s right, and the same goes for the cervical plexus with movement of the neck.

Daphne: Well what are the last two?

Velma: The lumbar and sacral plexus is responsible for the same function but with the lower back/buttocks area.

Daphne: Well what are the last two?

Velma: The lumbar and sacral plexus is responsible for the same function but with the lower back/buttocks area. These plexuses contain specific nerves such as the:

Optic, which carries visual information to the brain stem

The olfactory carries information of scent to the cerebrum

Trigeminal - information for chewing

Facial - controls of face

Spinal reflexes (controlled by gray matter):

Arrival of stimulus/activation of receptor / sensory neuron (dorsal root)

Info processing in CNS

Activation of motor neuron (ventral root)

Response by effector (muscle)

Hey guys this looks familiar! It's the same chart I saw in my anatomy class...