Download Introduction_to_Neuroscience_2016

Introduction to Neuroscience
• Donald Allen, Ph.D.
• January 7, 2016
History of Neuroscience
• Relatively new field
• Most of our ideas initially developed in the
late 18th century
• Very technology driven field
– Advances have been dependent on the ability to
see or measure what happens in the nervous
system
Several Main Ideas
• Each part has it’s own function
• Complex activities require different parts of
the nervous system
• How are the cells put together in the
nervous system
• How are they all connected
Broca
Paul Broca
French neurologist
1824-1880
Broca’s Area
Wernicke
Karl Wernicke
German Neurologist
Speech reception
Phrenology
Wilder Penfield
1950’s
• At one time “the greatest living Canadian”
• Neurosurgery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=Nu-PzIN0pFs
John Hughlings Jackson
• Multiple brain areas are essential for
complex functions
– Perception
– Action
– Language
Phineas Gage
Santiago Ramon y Cajal
• Spanish Neurologist
• 1852-1934
• Used Golgi stain
which selectively
shows only a small
number of neurons
in the brain
• Brain composed of
individual neurons,
not a continuous
network of neurons
Charles Sherrington
• English physiologist
• Nerve cells linked
by specific
connections called
synapses
Advances in technology
• 1950’s
• Electron microscope
– Examine components of individual cells,
including synapses
• Microelectrodes
– Examine electrical activity of individual
neurons
Modern imaging techniques
• Allow visualization of brain in a living
person
• Can provide information about
physiological and pathological condition of
nervous system
Computerized Axial Tomography
• X-Ray of brain
• Analyzed by computer
• Generates an image based on the density of
the tissue
• AIDS patient
• Toxoplasma
encephalitis
• Inflammatory
leson
Positron Emission Tomography
• Inject radioactive tracer into blood
• Radioactive signal is measured
• Signal proportional to blood flow, and index
of local neural activity
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Looks at effect of magnetic field on atoms
• Produces a 3-D image of brain
• Can also provide activity information about
activity-related blood flow