Neuroanatomy Flashcards
What are the four lobes of the cerebrum?
Frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital
What parts of the brain make up the hindbrain?
Cerebellum, pons, medulla
What are the four section of vertebrates from rostral to caudal?
Cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral
What parts of the spinal cord are enlarged? Why is this?
Cervical enlargement and lumbosacral enlargement
due to high amounts of motor neurons needed for the arms (cervical) and the legs (lumbosacral)
What is the ventricular system?
Made up of the two lateral ventricles on either hemisphere, third ventricle in the middle and the fourth ventricle below
cavities in the brain filled with cerebrospinal fluid
for physical protection, removal of waste products and maintaining concentrations of ions
What is grey matter?
neuronal cell bodies, dendrites and glia
what is white matter?
myelinated axons
How is the arrangement of grey and white matter different in the brain versus the spinal cord?
brain: grey matter is on the outside with white matter more medial
spinal cord: white matter is external and grey matter in an X shape on the inside
What is a nucleus?
cluster of cell bodies which usually have a specific function
what parts of the brain make up the forebrain?
cerebral hemispheres, thalamus, hypothalamus
Development pathway for the three brain vesicles
Ectoderm > neural plate > neural groove + folds > neural crest (PNS) + neural tube (CNS + ventricular system)
What are the three brain vesicles in development of the CNS from rostral to caudal and what do they develop into?
Prosencephalon- forebrain
Mesencephalon- midbrain
Rhombencephalon- hindbrain
How does the prosencephalon form the forebrain?
Telencephalon forms the cerebral hemispheres
Diencephalon forms the thalamus and hypothalamus
Optic vesicles form the optic stalk (optic nerve) and optic cup (retina)
Structure of the midbrain from rostral to caudal
tectum, cerebral aqueduct, tegmentum
Meaning of afferent and efferent
Afferent- information coming into the CNS
Efferent- information coming out of the CNS
What do the somatic and autonomic nervous systems innervate?
Somatic- skeletal muscles
Autonomic- smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, glands
Sympathetic preganglionic/postganglionic neuron structure and neurotransmitters
short preganglionic, long postganglionic use ACh (nicotinic) at pre, but ACh (nicotinic)/NE/EPI at post
Parasympathetic pregnaglionic/postganglionic neuron structure and neurotransmitters
long preganglionic, short postganglionic use ACh (nicotinic) at pre, but ACh (muscarinic) at post
What are the two parts of the pituitary?
Adenohypophysis- anterior
Neurohypophysis- posterior
Sympathetic organisation of the transverse spinal cord from dorsal to ventral
Dorsal horn, intermediate grey zone, intermediolateral cell column (within), lateral horn, ventral horn
What are the three types of sections of the brain and what direction are they in?
Horizontal- horizontally from forehead to the back of the head
Coronal- across the middle from ear to ear
Sagittal- down the middle separating the hemispheres
Prefix para means to the side of the middle axis
What are the two types of sections of the spinal cord and what direction are they in?
Longitudinal- down the length of it so multiple vertebrae
Transverse- cross section showing only one vertebrae
What are the superior and inferior colliculus and where are they located?
Located on the dorsal part of the midbrain
Superior processes visual sensory info
inferior processes auditory sensory info
What structures lie within the midbrain?
Tectum, cerebral aqueduct, superior colliculus, inferior colliculus, substantia nigra, red nucleus
What are the three different parts of the cerebral cortex from oldest to newest?
Olfactory cortex, hippocampus, neocortex
How can you identify the temporal lobe?
How are the frontal and parietal lobes distinguished from one another?
Large lateral gyri
Central sulcus
What are the 6 layers of the neocortex from outermost inwards?
Molecular > external granular > external pyramidal > internal granular < internal pyramidal > fusiform layer
What are the cytoarchictectural differences of each neocortex layer?
Molecular- no cell bodies, lots of dendrites and axons
Ext. granular- small granular neurons, Int. granular- similar but slightly larger
Int. pyramidal- large pyramidal cells (can be ones with axons all the way down the spinal cord)
Fusiform- more small neurons
Where is the primary motor cortex? What does it do?
Back of the frontal lobe next to the central gyrus
Where upper motor neurons send signals into the spinal cord and rest of body (lower motor neurons)
Where is the primary visual cortex? Where is the auditory cortex?
Back of the occipital lobe
Top of the temporal lobe
What is in the basal forebrain?
Basal ganglia- involved in the initiation of motor movement
Amygdala- involved in fear and emotions
What are the three types of white matter in the brain and what do they all do?
Commisural fibers- go across corpus collosum, connect hemispheres
Projection fibers- links to non-cortical areas
Association fibers- linking areas within a hemiphere
What is the hypothalamus?
Master regulator of homeostasis, links body to mind via the ANS and pituitary gland, made of 11 major nuclei
What is the limbic lobe and what is its function?
An abstract lobe that is more functional than structural, associated with more complex things like emotions, attention and motivation
Located in the medial part of the neocortex
Where is the somatosensory cortex located? What does it do?
Just behind the central sulcus in the parietal lobe
Receives sensory information from all over the body- pain, temperature and touch
Why are pregnant woman advised to take folic acid?
Taking folic acid reduces the possibility of the neural tube not closing properly
This reduces the chances of anencephaly and spina bifida
What parts of the brain are part of the limbic system?
Cortex of cingulate gyrus
Cortex on medial aspect of temporal lobe
Hippocampus
What is anencephaly?
Birth defect when a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull due to the neural tube failing to close at the top
What controls breathing?
Pons
Medulla
What are the different parts of the hypothalamus?
Lateral and medial
How does the adenohypophysis work?
Troph cells are stimulated by releasing hormones from parvocellular neurons of the hypothalamus
How does the neurohypophysis work?
Releases hormones from magnocellular neurons directly into systemic circulation
What is the internal capsule?
Carries information to and from the cerebral cortex
What does the anterior hypothalamus control?
Sleep
What does the lateral hypothalamus control?
Hunger
