Summary: Introduction To Neuroscience

Read the summary and the most important questions on introduction to neuroscience

• 1 college 1

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• What three staining techniques are used to identify different parts of the brain?

  • No staining; identify brain areas
    
  • Nissl staining; identify individual cells
  • Tyrosine Hydroxylase; identify dopamine concentrations.
    

• Why do you study rat brains in comparison to humans?

  • Rats are mammals so their brains are physically still comparable to humans (but less than monkey brains)
    
  • ethical boundaries for rats are lower than for humans, therefor techniques can be used which can't be used on humans.

• How can you know the connectivity of the nucleus accumbens, and what is it's primary function?

  • It's primary function is motivation.
    
  • by injecting the nucleus accumbens with a retrograde injection, you can see the connectivity by looking where your injected substance ends up.
  • the injected substance can travel through neurons in opposite direction from where information comes from
  • so nucleus accumbens receives information from the stained locations in other brain regions.

• 2 college 2

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• What division and subdivisions can be made in the organization of the human nervous system?

  • Nervous system; consists of
    
  • central nervous system; every nerve that is protected by either skull or spines
  • Cerebrum
    

  • Cerebellum
  • Brainstem
  • Spinal cord
  • peripheral nervous system; everything else
  • Cranial nerves; nerves in the face
    

  • Spinal nerves; nerves in the body
  • Autonomic NS

• Of which parts does the spinal cord consist?

  From top to bottom;
  

  • cervical cord
  • thoracic cord
  • lumbar cord
  • sacral cord 

• The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body, what are the two longest tracts?

  • long fiber tracts 1 which is a descending motor pathway connects the motor cortex to the muscles in the body
  • consists of the corticospinal/pyramidal tract; a collection of axons that carry movement-related information from the cerebral cortex to the spinal cord.
  • these fibers cross over near the brain stem (higher level)
  • long fiber tracts 2 which is an ascending sensory pathway
  • consists of the spinothalamic tract; sensory pathway from the body to the somatosensory cortex via the thalamus
  • these fibers cross over where they enter the spinal cord.

• Describe the organization of the peripheral nervous system.

  • The cranial nerves are 12 nerves from brain which mostly innervate the head and neck.
  • these neurons can be sensory, motor, or mixed neurons
  • the Vagus nerve forms part of the parasympathetic system
  • the spinal nerves; are all the nerves who lie outside the spinal cord
  • they innervate skin, joints, and muscles
  • dorsal root ganglia are bundles of fibers which contain cell bodies of peripheral sensory neurons
  • autonomic nervous system (visceral nervous system)
  • can be divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
  • Innervates smooth muscle (muscle that aren't skeletal muscles, internal muscles) of internal organs, blood vessels, glands

• What is the functional difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system?

  • The sympathetic nervous system causes activation which facilitates a fight or flight response; active state
    
  • the parasympathetic nervous systems causes activation which facilitates a rest or digest response; causes a passive state

• Describe the formation of the neural tube.

  • Embryo begins as a flat disk with 3 distinct layers

  • Endoderm eventually forms internal organs

  • Mesoderm eventually forms bones and muscles

  • Ectoderm eventually forms nervous system and skin
  • Neurulation is the formation of the neural plate which turns into the neural groove which turns into the neural tube on dorsal aspect of embryo
  • The entire CNS forms from the walls of this fluid-filled tube

  • The tube ultimately becomes the ventricular system

• How does part of the neural tube eventually develop into the brain?

  • The upper part of the neural tube eventually develops into three parts:
    
  • the prosencephalon oor the forebrain
  • the mesencephalon or midbrain
  • rhombencephalon or hindbrain
  • the rest of the neural tube will develop into the spinal cord.