Lecture 1: Overview and History: Brain, Neurons and Synapses Flashcards

1
Q

What disciplines combine to create neuroscience?

A

neurology, psychiatry, and neuroscience

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2
Q

What is neurology?

A

the medial specialty encompassing diseases, conditions and infections of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves

usually associated with physical changes in nervous system

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3
Q

What is psychiatry?

A

psychiatry is the medial specialty emcompassing the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illnesses and includes addiction and substance use disorders

physical changes in nervous system are usually not obvious

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4
Q

What is neuroscience?

A

the scientific study of the brain and nervous system, including molecular neuroscience, cellular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychophysics and computational modeling

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5
Q

What was the most prevalent idea of brain function in 300 BC?

A

recognizes that the brain is the major controlling center in the body

earlier ideas focused on the heart as the organ for perception, feelings, etc.

e.g. Aristotle, ~350 BC, thought brain cooled the passions of the heart

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6
Q

What was the most prevalent idea of brain function in 100 BC?

A

Galen examined brains by vivisections in animals

introduced the idea of spirits (pneumata) circulating between liver, heart and brain

proposed that animal spirits produced in the lining of the ventricles of the brain flowed into nerves to produce movement, and that the seat of the “rational soul” was in the brain

Galen’s ideas dominated thinking about brain function for more than 1500 years

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7
Q

Who was Al-Zahrawi (936 - 1013)?

A

surgeon/physician, pioneer of neurosurgery

first description of surgery to relieve hydrocephalus (fluid buildup)

pioneer of “neurosurgery”

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8
Q

Who was Avicenna (980 - 1037)?

A

considered the father of modern medicine

The Cannon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia

early identification of schizophrenia

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9
Q

Who was Andreus Vesalius (1514 - 1564)?

A

founded modern anatomy by dissecting humans

discovered that critical features of Calen’s anatomy were incorrect, e.g. the network of fine arteries at the base of the brain found by Galen in animals is virtually absent in humans

Galen considered this network was the link in the transport of “vital spirits” to and from the brain

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10
Q

Who was Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)?

A

proposed that spirits flowed to and fro from the pineal gland via nerves

recognized the existence of reflexes, but did not use this term

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11
Q

What were the three major concepts promoted by Descartes?

A
  1. only humans have a thinking mind, animals lack abstract thought and do not experience emotions (animals are complex stimulus-response machines)
  2. dualism: mind (immaterial) and body (material) are separate
  3. mind and body interact in the pineal gland, movements of this gland direct the flow of spirits through the nervous system

all these concepts are false, but the idea of dualism still persists

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12
Q

What was the Virtuosi?

A

group of scholars at Oxford during the time of Thomas Willis

scientific thinking flourished during the Renaissance

Renaissance was driven by the idea that natural laws can explain the workings of the material world

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13
Q

Who was Luigi Galvani (1737 - 1798)?

A

obtained indirect evidence for intrinsic electrical activity in the nervous system

difficult to prove because because no method for measuring electrical activity was available

measured directly in mid-1800’s by du Bois-Reymond using sensitive galvanometers

electrically evoked movements in frog legs

brain function mediated by electrical signals

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14
Q

Who was Jean-Martin Charcot (1825 - 1893)?

A

founder of modern neurology

keen observer of signs and symptoms

carefully examined nervous system in postmortems

described/classified features of many disorders (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)

founding of modern neurology (signs and symptoms)

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15
Q

Who was Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852 - 1934)?

A

extraordinary neuroanatomist

Golgi staining revealed structure of individual nerve cells

concept of unidirectional flow of information along nerve cells

visualization of neurons, strong support for the “neuron doctrine”

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16
Q

Who was Charles Sherrington (1857 - 1952)?

A

extraordinary neurophysiologist

recognized that behavior can be explained by networks of neurons

stressed that complex behaviors could be reduced to simpler components

discovered inhibition in the nervous system

introduced the term “synapse”

founder of modern neurophysiology

behavior can be understood in terms of interacting networks of neurons connected via excitatory and inhibitory synapses

17
Q

Who was Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936)?

A

set the stage for the study of brain:behavior relationships

18
Q

Who was B.F. Skinner (1904 - 1990)?

A

skinner box: operant conditioning chamber, delivers reinforcers after a desired response

shaping a response: reinforce behavior that is closer and closer to the target behavior, “punish” wrong response, can also shape behavior through negative reinforcement

19
Q

Who was Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909 - 2012)?

A

after losing her position at the University of Turin in 1938 for being Jewish, she sets up “bedroom laboratory”

studies nerve fiber growth from chick embryos

identifies critical factor responsible for the outgrowth of nerve fibers, NGF (nerve growth factor)

winner of Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1986

identification of NGF as critical for neuronal survival and outgrowth

20
Q

Who is Brenda Milner (1918 - present)?

A

British/Canadian Neuropyschologist

McGill University in Montreal, Canada

foundational studies on brain and behavior

patient “HM”, the man who couldn’t make new memories as a result of bi-lateral temporal lobectomy

importance of the hippocampus for the formation of new memories

the importance of the hippocampus for the formation of memory

21
Q

Who was Ben Barres (1954 - 2017)?

A

foundational studies on the development and function of non-neuronal cells in the CNS: astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes

foundational studies on the importance of “glia” for proper CNS function