Name- Cdt.

Samrit Banerjee
Class- XI B
Roll No. 5149

BIOLOGY PROJECT
 SAINIK SCHOOL PURULIA
P.O-Sainik School,

District- Purulia, West Bengal, Pin- 723104

CERTIFICATE
This project entitled “REFLEX ACTION”, is the investigatory project work in

BIOLOGY (044), successfully completed by

Cadet Samrit Banerjee,

student of class-XI B of

Sainik School Purulia, West Bengal,

with Roll No. 5149 , under the Guidance of

Mr. PANKAJ KUMAR ROUT (PGT Biology), for the partial fulfillment of

Biology Practical examination(044) requirements for the course completion

in pursuance of Centralized Examination 2023-24 conducted by CBSE,

New Delhi.

Signature of Guide

Place- Purulia, W.B MR. PANKAJ KR. ROUT

Date- (PGT BIOLOGY)

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 Acknowledgment
I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Pankaj
Kumar Rout (PGT Biology), our Biology teacher for
guiding me through the project. I also appreciate the
contribution and support of my parents to make the
project errorless.
I also express deepest of my gratitude towards
Dr. Ajay Mandal, for answering my questions and
helping me with the survey and provide me a vast
amount of knowledge and great sum of data to
understand the project properly.
I thus thank each and every one who helped me in
the project in some or the other way. They all equally
contributed in successfully completing the project and
enabled me to form my opinion on the matter.

Student’s Signature

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 Introduction
We have experienced a sudden withdrawal of a body
part which comes in contact with objects that are
extremely hot, cold, pointed or animals that are scary or
poisonous. The entire process of response to a peripheral
nervous stimulation, that occurs involuntarily, i.e., without
conscious effort or thought and requires the involvement
of a part of the central nervous system is called a reflex
action. The reflex pathway comprises at least one
afferent neuron (receptor) and one efferent (effector or
excitor) neuron appropriately arranged in a series. The
afferent neuron receives signal from a sensory organ and
transmits the impulse via a dorsal nerve root into the CNS
(at the level of spinal cord). The efferent neuron then
carries signals from CNS to the effector. The stimulus
and response thus forms a reflex arc.

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 Index
Aim of Project 5
Requirements 6
Theory 7
Procedure 13
Observation & Analysis 15
Photo Gallery 17
Conclusion 18
Bibliography 19

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 Aim of the Project

To show how reflex

arc works.

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 Requirements
 NCERT Biology Textbook for class 11.
 Stable Internet connection for online research
 Microsoft Word
 Articles and Reports on reflex action
 Prerequisite knowledge for making the project

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 Theory
Reflex is an involuntary and sudden response to stimuli.
It happens to be an integral component of the famed survival
instinct.
Most of the common reflexes are a response to all the
well-trained, accumulated knowledge of caution that we have
internalized. It could be anything and ranges from the reflex
action of abruptly withdrawing the hand as it comes in contact
with an extremely cold or hot object. This action is termed as
the reflex action. It has a subtle relation to instinct.
A point to be thought upon is that we all have our
instincts differently depending on our past experiences and
understanding. A reflex is a reaction triggered by this instinct.
At times, we have no prior knowledge if the pan is hot or not.
In other words, instinct has little to do with reflex.
Hyporeflexia is a symptom in which your skeletal
muscles have a decreased or absent reflex response. It
results from damage to any part of your reflex arc, which can
be due to an underlying medical condition.
From an evolutionary perspective, reflex action has
played an important part in ensuring the survival of organisms
as it has enabled quick reactions to certain situations where
an organism’s life could be at stake.

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Monosynaptic and Polysynaptic Reflex

When a reflex arc in an animal consists of only

one sensory neuron and one motor neuron, it is defined
as monosynaptic, referring to the presence of a
single chemical synapse. In the case of peripheral muscle
reflexes (patellar reflex, achilles reflex), brief stimulation to
the muscle spindle results in contraction of the agonist or
effector muscle. By contrast, in polysynaptic reflex pathways,
one or more interneurons connect afferent (sensory)
and efferent (motor) signals. All but the simplest reflexes are
polysynaptic, allowing processing or inhibition of polysynaptic
reflexes within the brain.

Types of Reflex Action

 Accommodation reflex: The most common reflex of
eyes, that helps the pupils, lens and vergence change
the shape to accommodate of sight, when we look at
distance object and near object. The change in shape is
made by the ciliary muscles of the eyes.
 Pupillary light reflex: If a light is flashed near one eye,
the pupils of both eyes contract. Light is the stimulus,
impulses reach the brain via the optic nerve and the
response is conveyed to the pupillary musculature by
autonomic nerves that supply the eye. Reflexes are there
to protect your body parts.
 Acoustic Reflex: It is related to contraction of stapedius
and tensor tympani muscles in the middle ear that
responses to high decibel sounds.
 Knee jerk reflex: The jerking of knee is the common
reflex action that is tested by the doctors to check the

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 reflex. This reflex helps maintain the balance and posture
of a person, that allows to maintain the balance with little
effort and conscious thought. The doctors test the knee
jerk reflex by hitting the hammer on the knee. Absence of
reflex may indicate receptor damage or peripheral nerve
disease.
 Biceps reflex: The jerking of forearm when biceps
brachial tendon is struck with tendon hammer leads to
biceps reflex. Biceps reflex are also used to detect
reduced reflexes. Absent reflexes are used as clues to
locate neurological disease.
 Blushing: Blushing refers to the reddening of the face
caused by embarrassment, shame or modesty. This is
faced by a person because of psychological reasons.
 Corneal reflex: Refers to blinking of both eyes when the
cornea of either eye is touched. This reflex is responsible
to act when dust or foreign particles accidentally enters
our eyes. Use of contact lens may diminish or abolish the
testing of this reflex.
 Cough reflex: When a dust enters our trachea or
respiratory tract, the cough receptors produces a cough
which in turn remove the foreign material from the tract
before it reaches the lungs.
 Sneeze: Irritation of nasal mucosa in the nose creates a
sneeze that helps get rid of the foreign particle in the
nostrils.
 Stereotyped response: It is an unlearned behavioral
reaction of an organism to some environmental stimulus.
It is an adaptive mechanism and may be expressed in a
variety of ways. All living organisms exhibit one or more
types of stereotyped response.

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Hyporeflexia
Hyporeflexia happens when your skeletal muscles have
a decreased or absent reflex response. An absent reflex
response is also called areflexia. A reflex is an involuntary
(automatic) action your body does in response to something.
Reflexes protect your body from things that can harm it.
Hyporeflexia results from any interruption of the reflex arc,
which has a sensory part, a central part (spinal cord) and a
motor part. Damage to any of the parts (sensory nerves,
spinal cord or motor nerves) can potentially cause
hyporeflexia. If the damage is to your motor nerves or motor
nerve cells, it’s called a lower motor neuron lesion.
Healthcare providers use the deep tendon reflex (DTR)
examination to check for hyporeflexia or hyperreflexia as part
of a neurological exam. The best known of the reflexes is the
patellar, or knee-jerk, reflex.
The DTR exam involves a healthcare provider tapping
your knee with a rubber hammer (it shouldn't hurt). This tap
stretches your patellar tendon and the muscle in your thigh
that connects to it. Normally, your peripheral nerves (more
specifically, sensory neurons) then send a signal to your
spinal cord that the muscle has been stretched.

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What are the causes of hyporeflexia?
Damage anywhere along the reflex arc causes hyporeflexia.
These tissues include:
 Sensory nerve fibers.
 Sensory nerve cells or neurons.
 Spinal cord.
 Motor nerve cells or neurons.
 Motor fibers.
Rarely, neurological diseases that affect the connection
between nerves and muscles cause hyporeflexia.
Neurological conditions or injuries that can cause hyporeflexia
include:
 Peripheral neuropathies: Neuropathy is damage or
dysfunction of one or more nerves that typically results in
numbness, tingling, muscle weakness and pain in the
affected area. Neuropathies frequently start in your
hands and feet, but can affect other parts of your body,
too. It indicates a problem within your peripheral nervous
system.
 Guillain-Barre syndrome: This is a rare autoimmune
disease in which your immune system attacks your
nerves rapidly over days and causes loss of myelin —
the “insulation” of your nerves.
 Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
(CIDP): This is an autoimmune condition that also affects
myelin but over a longer period.

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  Spinal cord injuries: Accidents such as falls and motor
vehicle crashes can cause spine fractures and severe
pressure on your spinal cord. This causes paralysis and
hyporeflexia early on. However, over time, people often
develop hyperreflexia below the level of the spinal cord
injury.
 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): ALS, also known
as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive disease of
upper and lower motor neuron lesions. In this condition,
even though there's loss of the lower motor neurons,
people more often have hyperreflexia than hyporeflexia
because of parallel loss of their upper motor neurons.

 Labert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS): This is a

rare condition that affects the connection between your
nerves and muscles. It's associated with hyporeflexia
and areflexia.

How is hyporeflexia treated?

Treatment for hyporeflexia depends on the underlying cause.
The goal of treatment is to treat the underlying condition.
For example, healthcare providers treat Guillain-Barre
syndrome either with IV infusions of immunoglobulins (IVIg) or
with a procedure in which your plasma is filtered from your
blood (plasma exchange).

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 Procedure
Two neurons dominate the pathway, afferent nerves
(receptor) and the efferent nerves (effector or exciter).
Below is a brief description of the events that take place:
 Firstly, it begins with receptor detecting the stimulus or a
sudden change in the environment, where the instinct
again has a role to play. The stimulus is received from a
sensory organ.
 Then, the sensory neuron sends a signal to the relay
neuron.
 This is followed with the relay neuron sending the signal
to the motor neuron.
 Further, the motor neuron sends a signal to the effector.
 The effector produces an instantaneous response, for
example, pulling away of the hand or a knee-jerk reaction.

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 From the above explanations, it can be clearly
summarized that the moment the afferent neuron receives
a signal from the sensory organ; it transmits the impulse
via a dorsal nerve root into the Central Nervous
System. The efferent neuron then carries the signal from
the CNS to the effector. The stimulus thus forms a reflex
arc.
In a reflex action, the signals do not route to the brain
instead, it is directed into the synapse in the spinal cord,
and hence the reaction is almost instantaneous.

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 Observation and Analysis
Questionnaire with Doctor
Q1. What is the reason for the knee jerk test?

Ans- Within each tendon one finds a stretch receptor. The latter can be
stimulated by tapping the tendon with a rubber mallet, whereupon the
associated muscle contracts slightly. This simple reflex forms the basis of
the test performed by doctors during the examination of a patient's central
and peripheral nervous system. It has countless uses, as the speed and
forcefulness of the response varies in disease states. Damage to the brain
or spinal cord can produce very brisk reflexes in the affected limb, whilst
damage to a peripheral nerve produces dimished or absent reflexes. The
patient with a bad headache and brisk relexes in his right arm and right leg
might make one suspicious of a left sided brain tumour, whilst severe
fatigue coupled with absent or delayed reflexes in every limb, might point to
an underactive thyroid.

Q2. What does it mean if someone doesn’t have a knee-jerk reflex?

Ans- If your knee doesn't kick out when the patellar tendon is tapped; it's
called Westphal's sign. The lack of a reaction is usually a sign of
neurological problems specifically related to the peripheral nervous system.
A wide range of disorders can affect the peripheral nervous system,
including inherited degenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases, alcohol
abuse, and cancer.

Q3. What causes muscle twitching and spasms?

Ans- This may be due to hyperactive reflexes, a condition in which muscles

move or twitch in response to little or seemingly no stimuli. The most
common cause is a spinal cord injury. It may also be the result of other
problems such as a thyroid condition, multiple sclerosis, or electrolyte
imbalance.

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Data

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Photo Gallery

With Dr. Ajay

Mandal

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 Conclusion
A reflex action is an automatic (involuntary) and
rapid response to a stimulus, which minimises
any damage to the body from potentially harmful
conditions, such as touching something hot.
Reflex actions are therefore essential to the
survival of many organisms.

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 Bibliography
NCERT Biology Textbook
https://www.britannica.com/science/human-nervous-
system/Reflex-actions
https://byjus.com/biology/reflex-action/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1413751
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/reflex-actions/
https://testbook.com/biology/reflex-action
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24176-
hyporeflexia
https://med.libretexts.org
https://www.toppr.com/guides/biology/neural-control-and-
coordination/reflex-action-and-reflex-arc/

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