Chapter 1 - Intro to neuro

Question 1

Trepanation

Answer 1

• boring holes into the skull while the patient is awake, resulting in burr holes that show evidence of healing in the bone tissue
• ancestors knew that the brain was vital to life, and its speculated that they did this in order to treat headaches or mental disorders - earliest known examples of neurosurgeries

Question 2

Egyptian papyri

Answer 2

• equivalent to modern day case studies, contained the systematic diagnosis and treatment of pts neurologically
• from nearly 5000 years ago, indicate that they were aware of the symptoms of brain damage, also had record of using electroanalgesia

Question 3

What is the most famous egyptian papyrus? Why is it relevant?

Answer 3

• Edwin Smith papyrus
• was the first papyrus translated that showed that the egyptians had a deeper understanding of the brain than previously believed
• contains the first known mention of the brain, the pulse, the role of the heart in circulating blood and the brain controlling the limbs
• first pioneering approach to surgery and treatment of brain/head injuries, including descriptions of suturing, reducing dislocations, and splints

Question 4

What did the egyptians think about the role of the brain?

Answer 4

• though that the heart was the seat of the soul and the repository of memories, not the brain
• as seen in Smith’s papyrus, was mainly involved in controlling the limbs

Question 5

What did Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen think about the role of the brain?

Answer 5

• Hippocrates and Galen believed that the brain is not only involved in sensation, but is the seat of intelligence
• Aristotle believed that the heart was the center of intelligence, and that the brain was a radiator for cooling blood (rational temperament of humans was due to the cooling capacity of our brains)

Question 6

Humorism, how did this early notion of physiology tie in with early understanding of the ventricular system?

Answer 6

• body functions according to a balance of four vital fluids - yellow and black bile, blood, and phlegm
• the fluid found in the ventricles perfectly fit this theory
• sensations were registered and movements initiated by the movement of humors to or from the brain ventricles via the nerves, which were believed to be hollow tubes, like blood vessels

Question 7

Rene Descartes

Answer 7

• Did not believe that the brain was in charge of the full range of human behavior
• thought that people possess intellect, and a god-given soul located in the pineal gland and the two interact
• also believed that nerves communicated with the brain by the movement of fluid, thought that the fluids circulating in the body were responsible for bodily functions

Question 8

Gross anatomical divisions of the nervous system that emerged by the end of the late 1700s - CNS vs. PNS

Answer 8

• CNS - central nervous system, composed of brain and spinal cord
• PNS - peripheral nervous system, composed of nerves and ganglia

Question 9

Gross anatomical divisions of the nervous system that emerged by the end of the late 1700s - Grey vs white matter

Answer 9

• Grey matter - usually peripheral to white matter, composed of cell bodies and dendrites
• white matter - composed of axons, looks white because it contains myelin

Question 10

Gross anatomical divisions of the nervous system that emerged by the end of the late 1700s - pattern of gyri, sulci, and fissures

Answer 10

• showed the separation of the brain into lobes
• further led to speculation that different functions might be localized to diff parts of the brain

Question 11

Who were Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta? What did they contribute to our modern understanding
of neuroscience? What did they disagree about?

Answer 11

• Galvani was an italian scientist, and Volta was an italian physicist
• disagreed on whether or not the animal produced electrical activity in the brain (animal electricity)
• Galvani hooked a frog up to a lightning rod, and Volta created the battery
• Galvani was proved correct, and the electrical basis of the nervous system was confirmed

Question 12

What technique was pioneered by Bell and Magendie in the early 1800’s? What knowledge was gained
from their classical experiments?

Answer 12

• Lesioning/ablation
• concluded that w/n each nerve is a mixture of many wires, some of which bring info into the brain and spinal cord and others that send info out to the muscles
• found that when the dorsal root is cut, it resulted in a loss of sensory function
• found that when the anterior root is cut, it resulted in a loss of motor function
• segregation btwn sensory and motor function among nerve roots

Question 13

Who was (Marie) Jean-Pierre Flourens? What did he contribute to neuroscience?

Answer 13

• used ablation to determine that the cerebellum does play a role in the coordination of movement
• also concluded that the cerebrum is involved in sensation and perception

Question 14

Who were Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke. How did they advance neuroscience?

Answer 14

• Broca - concluded that the frontal lobe was responsible for the production of speech after being presented w/ a pt who could understand speech but not speak (pt had a lesion on the frontal lobe)
• Wernicke - identified Wernicke’s area (where the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobe meet) to be another area that controls comprehension of speech

Question 15

Which two scientists are credited with discovery of the action potential?

Answer 15

Emil du Bois-Reymond and Julius Bernstein

Question 16

What two major events set the stage for modern advancements in neuroscience, where nervous tissue
began to be understood at the cellular level?

Answer 16

• genesis of histology due to development of tissue fixation and staining
• cell theory is founded by Schleiden and Schwann (all tissues are composed of microscopic units called cells)