Lecture 22- Studying neuronal function Flashcards
What is neuroinformatics?
-what information about the brain should be collected and interrelated -what can we measure (spatial and temporal resolution)
What are the nine areas of information sources in neuroinformatics?
1.Morphology 2. Location 3. Connectivity 4. Output neurochemistry 5. Input neurochemistry 6. Electrical behaviour 7. Homologies of other brains 8. Ontogeny 9. Functional data
What information does location (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-shape, projections, branching patterns, soma shape
What information does connectivity (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-inputs and outputs: size, location, type
What information does output neurochemistry (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-primary and secondary neurotransmitters
What information does input neurochemistry (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-receptor subtypes, 2nd messenger system/ interactions
What information does electrical behaviour (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-distribution of channels and pumps
What information does ontogeny (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-history of gene expression, migration and environmental interaction
What information does functional data (neuroinformatics) consist of?
-effects of lesions, results of modeling, experiments
What are the two main types of neuronal cells in the brain in terms of structure?
-pyramidal (longer, fewer branches) -stellate (highly branching, more condensed)
What does the Brodman’s cortical map show?
map based on subtle differences in neuron types
What techniques can you use to see a neuron?
- eye
- light microscope
- electron microscope
What can you resolve with an eye?
-man height, hand finger -cannot see cells (about 10x smaller than our resolution)
What can you resolve with a light microscope?
-thickness of hair -cell -cellular components (such as bacterium) -limited by the wavelength of light (200nm)
What can you resolve with an electron microscope?
-molecular scale -virus -macromolecule, small molecule all the way to individual atoms