Neuroscience 1 Flashcards
Gray matter increases with:
learning
What are the steps of a reflex?
- Hammer tap stretches tendon –> stretches sensory receptors in leg extensor muscle
2A. Sensory neuron synapses with and excites motor neuron in spinal cord
2B. Sensory neuron also excites spinal interneuron
2C. Interneuron inhibits motor neuron to flexor muscles
3A. Motor neuron conducts AP to synapses on extensor muscle fibers –> contraction
3B. Flexor muscle relaxes because activity of its motor neurons has been inhibited. - Leg extends
Neurogenesis increases with:
activity
What are the four distinguishing features of advanced nervous systems?
- Cellular specialization
- High storage capacity and adaptability
- Areal specialization (ie lobe)
- Functional cooperation (groups of neurons act together to produce an effect)
What are the 5 types of neuroglia?
- Astrocytes
- Oligodendrocytes
- Microglial cells
- Glial stem cells
- Oligodendrocyte precursor
What are the best predictors of intelligence when comparing brains?
- Foliation
2. Neuronal density
What process defines the midline, anterior-posteriorand dorsal-ventral axes of the embryo?
Gastrulation
What process is central to gastrulation by defining the midline of the embryo and inducing formation of the neural ectoderm?
Notochord formation
What are the neural precursor cells?
Neural ectodermal cells
What is the effect of bone morphogenic protein (BMPs) on ectoderm?
Formation of epidermis, *an example of neural induction
What is BMP and where is it produced?
BMP, bone morphogenic protein, is produced, by mesoderm. It is a subclass of TGFb
What factors inhibit BMP signaling?
Chordin, Noggin, Follistatin etc., produced by the notochord
What happens when BMP is inhibited?
Ectodermal cells take on a neural fate, *example of neural induction
What is the default pathway for neural induction of ectodermal cells?
Neural fate. BMP responsible for transcription factor activation leading to epidermal differentiation
TAKE HOME:
Neural induction requires the coordination of multiple signaling pathways. complexity
Cells that make up the neural tube are:
Neural stem cells
How does the neural tube close?
Both anteriorly and posteriorly, like a zipper
Name two vitamins helpful in preventing neural tube defects.
Folic acid, B vitamins, (cholesterol)
When does the neural crest pinch off? What do these cells become?
The neural crest stem cells pinch off from the neural tube at neural tube closure. These cells go on to become cranial neural crest cells, trunk neural crest cells, cardiac neural crest cells and vagal/sacral neural crest cells.
…in other words, cells in PNS
In dorsal/ventral patterning, the process by which groups of cells become different from one another, ventral signal is secreted:
SHH, (motor)
In dorsal/ventral patterning, dorsal signal is secreted:
TGFb family, mainly BMPs (sensory)
The notochord induces formation of the neural plate and neural groove, but these are also dependent on:
SHH
What is the process by which SHH leads to ventral (motor neuron) cell fates?
- SHH binds to Patched (PTC)
- PTC relieves inhibition of Smoothened (SMO)
- Smoothened activates Gli1 transcription factor family (zinc fingers)
- Gli1 induces transcription to make the cell ventrally fated.
Cyclopia is the result of:
Shh patterning defect
Shh is known to regulate 3 key things in development:
- Polarity
- Proliferation
- Cell differentiation
Disruptions in the Shh pathway can lead to:
- Holoprosencephaly (telencephalon does not bifurcate)
- Cyclopia and misplaced nose (polarity of head issue)
- Medulloblastomas
- Basal cell carcinoma
In addition to BMPs and Shh pathways, what two things play key roles in the development of the dorsal ventral polarity?
RA - retinoic acid (endplate and floorplate) and FGF (near notochord)
What are the results of anterior posterior (A/P) patterning?
Formation of spinal cord Rhombencephalon --metencephalon - future pons --myelencephalon - future medulla Mesencephalon - future midbrain Prosencephalon - --diencephalon - future thalamus and retina --telencephalon - future forebrain
What genes are important in A/P patterning?
Hox genes, involved in defining segmental differences in the spinal cord, medulla and pons, and is major in formation of brain stem and spinal cord
Where is there no Hox code?
Brain (prosencephalon and mesencephalon)
What occurs in OTX2 knockout mice?
OTX2 knockout embryos completely lack forebrain and neural structures
What is the ventricular zone?
Thin strip of cells surrounding the CSF-filled ventricles , where neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells divide and differentiate to give rise to cells in the CNS
What is the difference between a neural stem cell and a neural progenitor cell?
(1) Neural stem cell - Can give rise to any cell type in the nervous system, unlimited potential and self renewal
(2) Progenitor cell - derived from the neural stem cell but have more restricted fate (can be either a glial progenitor cell or a neural progenitor cell)
How does the brain develop in the ventricular zone?
NSC’s divide symmetrically (2 daughter NSCs) until they don’t anymore, and then divide to one NSC and one progenitor. Then finally they will have a symmetrical division into 2 neural progenitors. This happens without growing the size of the ventricular zone, so the expansion is lateral.
Neurogenesis precedes?
Gliogenesis, which starts after the peak of neurogenesis
In order to keep tight tabs on the numbers of NSCs, progenitors, neurons and glia forming, and the timing of their generation, what signaling pathways need to get involved?
- Notch
- bHLH - basic helix loop helix TF (proneural)
These control neural progenitor differentiation and are antagonistic.
Notch signaling requires:
cell to ell contact, through Delta
How does Notch work?
At low to moderate levels of Notch stimulation through Delta, Notch is cleaved and goes to the nucles to activate bHLH TF.
Glial differentiation goes in what order?
- Neurogenesis
- Astrogliogenesis
- Oligogliogenesis
Neurons in most brain areas are all generated by the when in pregnancy:
second trimester
When does the majority of gliogenesis occur?
After birth in humans
What is the inside-out pattern of cortical development?
Radial migration in which first born neurons migrate radially along radial glia to the cortical plate, but each subsequent generation migrates past the previous one.
Hows does inside out cortex form?
Mutation in ECM protein reelin
Developmental disorders implicated in gene migration problems include:
Autism
ADD
ADHD
Schizophrenia
Why can’t interneurons migrate radially as in cortical layer formation?
Because they are coming from the LGE and MGE - laterial and medial ganglionic eminences, therefore they migrate tangentially
Both CNS and PNS are built by:
immigrants
What is a CT scan?
Computed axial tomography
Rotating x-ray beam
Rate of attentuation varies by tissue composition
What are the advantages of CT?
Faster and less expensive than MRI
Can be used as an initial screening tool
What are the disadvantages of CT?
Use of X-ray
Lower spatial resolution than MRI
Less contrast between soft tissues
What is CT used to detect?
infarction tumors calcifications hemmorhage bone trauma
What is an infarct?
Loss of blood supply and thus oxygen to portion of the brain
Why are infarcts more clearly visualized on MRI?
Superior spatial resolution
What is MRI?
Based on principles of nuclear magnetic resonance
What are the advantages of MRI?
No radiation (radio waves instead of x-rays)
High resolution and detailed visualization of soft tissue
Can identify wide range of pathological processes
Functional/chemical imaging
What are the disadvantages of MRI?
Waiting lists
Claustrophobia
Long study duration
What are the physics of MRI?
A spinning proton (like in water) placed within a large, external magnetic field will align with or against the external field. The proton will precess, or wobble, at a frequency proportional to the magnetic field. As we turn the RF pulse off, the PROTONS REALIGN with the external magnetic field. Simultaneously, the ENERGY that each spinning proton absorbed from the RF pulse DECAYS. As the energy decays, an RF signal is emitted.
What is a T2 weighted image?
MRI scanning of tumor: T2 weighted scans utilize a pulse that permits better visualization of lesions.
What is MRS?
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; the permits the study of the chemical structure of the brain; can study: N-acetylaspartate (NAA) Choline (Cho) Creatine (Cr) Lactate (Lac)
Creatine is a:
glial marker
NAA is a:
Neuronal marker
Choline is a marker for:
demyelination
Lactate is found in the brain during:
ischemic events
What is DTI?
DTI measures water diffusion orientations within axons
What are the advantages of fMRI?
Good for studying cognitive tasks, to understand the sites of neural reorganization following stroke or injury
What is PET?
Use of cyclotron to prepare radioactive isotope tracers, injection of tracers, which bind to physiological sites, scanner images the positron-emitting tracer upon its decay.
How has PET been used in management of AD?
Hypometabolism in various brain regions have been associated with severity of clinical symptoms
What is the APOE-4 allele?
Genetic risk factor for AD
Give an example of intraoperative MRI.
Co-localization of MRI and DTI scans allows surgeons to identify way in which the white matter tracts are affected by a tumor.
What is MRI good for identifying?
Neoplasm
Demyelination (MR spec)
Degenerative diseases (Cortical atrophy)
What does MRI look at?
Brain structure
Vasculature
Chemical structure
Fiber tracts
What are the advantages of PET?
Functional imaging
Physiological variables can be determined
What are the disadvantages of PET?
Ionizing radiation
Costly, limited access
Tracer production
What is PET used for?
Psychiatric disorders
Addictive disorders
Epilepsy
What measurements does PET provide?
Perfusion
Metabolism
NT integrity
Neurons that conduct visceral pain are distributed in the
sympathetic nervous system
Neurons that conduct visceral sensory non-pain information are distributed in the
parasymptathetic nervous system
Cell bodies of visceral afferent fibers that conduct visceral pain are located in the ___ along with cell bodies of somatic afferent fibers.
dorsal root ganglia
The visceral afferent fibers of the myocardium are located:
T1-T5
Explain the dermatomal effect of a heart attack.
The cell bodies of somatic afferent fibers that supply the skin of dermatomes of T1-T5 are located in the same dorsal root ganglia as the afferent fibers of the myocardium.
What are the exceptions to dual innervation?
Cutaneous blood vessels
sweat glands
hair shafts
–receive sympathetic input only