L1 - History and Intro to CNS

Question 1

What is the mass of an adult brain?

Answer 1

1.5kg

Question 2

What is the human brain project?

Answer 2

A european project to simulate brain activity

Question 3

What is the BRAIN initiative?

Answer 3

An american project to map the functional connectome

Question 4

What did Hippocrates believe about the function of the brain?

Answer 4

That all pleasures joys etc stem from the brain

Question 5

What did Aristotle believe about the brain?

Answer 5

That it was a cooling mechanism for the blood

Question 6

What is localism?

Answer 6

That neurons and brain areas have specific functions

Question 7

What is holism?

Answer 7

Fairly undifferentiated working more as an aggregate field

Question 8

What did Franz Joseph Gall believe?

Answer 8

That bumps on the skull corresponded withbumps on the surface of the brain and this correlated with personality traits.

Question 9

What is an important thing to remember when doing lesion studies on the brain?

Answer 9

That removing a specific area of the brain does not necessarily remove the function of that area due to the plasticity of the brain

Question 10

What did Galvani famously notice?

Answer 10

He observed animal electricity in frogs. Therefore the brain generates electricity and the nerves are electrical wires.

Question 11

What did Penfield do?

Answer 11

He created somatotropic maps

Question 12

What did Hodgkin and Huxley do?

Answer 12

Find the mechanism and the all or nothing nature of the AP

Question 13

What are important model animals in studying brain function?

Answer 13

C. elegans, Aplysia, Drosophila, Zebra fish, Musmusculus

Question 14

When did CNS histology start and why?

Answer 14

1820 due to formaldehyde fixation and the microtome

Question 15

What is the Nissl Stain?

Answer 15

Crysl violet, thioxin and basic anitine which stains neuronal nuclei and surrounds. It distinguishes neurons from glia.

Question 16

What is the golgi stain?

Answer 16

Silver chromate solution which stains a few random neurons in their entirety

Question 17

What was the fight over the neuron doctrine?

Answer 17

There was a fight between Golgi and Cajal. Golgi believed in reticular theory and Cajal believed in individual neurons. We now know that some cells do behave similarly to Golgi’s theory for example when neurons function in syncitium

Question 18

What are the postulates of the neuron doctrine?

Answer 18

1. Neurons are individual cells that are itnerconnected through synaptic contacts.
2. Connection Specificty -neurons do not connect at random
3. Law of dynamic polarization - Unidirectional flow

Question 19

What are the classifications of neurons based on coarse morphology?

Answer 19

Unipolar
Bipolar
Multipolar

Question 20

What are the classifications of neurons based on coarse axonal projection and function?

Answer 20

Sensory neuron
Interneuron
Principal neuron/ projection neuron

Question 21

What are the classifications based on amain action and secreteion?

Answer 21

Classical transmitters
Co-transmitters
neuromodulators

Question 22

What are the three main types of neurotransmitterss?

Answer 22

Amino acids e.g. glutabate, glycine and gaba
Amines e.g. ACh, dopamine, adrenaline, NA, serotonin and histamine
Neuropeptides e.g. Substance P, Neuropeptide Y,