BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR

HYACINTH C. MANOOD, MD, FPPA

FRONTAL LOBE:
Voluntary movement
Language production (left)
Motor prosody (right)
Comportment
Executive function
Motivation
TEMPORAL LOBES
Audition
Language comprehension (left)
Sensory prosody (right)
Memory Emotion
PARIETAL LOBES:
Tactile sensation
Visuospatial function (right)
Reading (left) Calculation (L)
OCCIPITAL LOBES:
Vision
Visual perception
THE BASAL GANGLIA
 Mediate postural tone
 PARTS:
1. Corpus striatum – caudate and putamen
Caudate acts as gatekeeper to allow the motor
system to perform only those acts that are
goal-directed. Studies correlated decreased
activation of caudate with OC behavior, Tics
and Tourette’s disorder.
2. Globus pallidus - receives input from the
corpus striatum and projects fibers to the
thalamus. This is damaged in Wilson’s disease
and carbon monoxide poisoning, resulting in
dystonic posturing and flapping movements of
arms and legs.
3. Substantia nigra – degenerates in Parkinson’s
disease
4. Subthalamic nucleus – yield ballistic
movements, sudden limb jerks.
 THE AUTONOMIC MOTOR SYSTEM

 PARASYMPATHETIC – slows heart rate and begins

the process of digestion.

 SYMPATHETIC – mediates flight or fight response,

with increased heart rate, shunting of blood away
from the viscera, and increased respiration.
 Limbic System
 The limbic system is
comprised of
Hippocampus: involved in
learning and memory
Amygdala: involved in
emotion; may mediate
anxiety and panic
Mammillary Bodies
The fornix is a fiber
bundle that The limbic system had been implicated in
interconnects the neuropathological studies of schizophrenia.
The 4 A’s of Eugen Bleuler refer to brain
hippocampus with the functions served in part by the limbic
mammillary bodies structures.
 NEUROTRANSMITTERS

BIOGENIC AMINO ACIDS: NEURO-

AMINES: • Glutamate PEPTIDES
• Dopamine • GABA
• Substance P
• Serotonin • Glycine
• Neurotensin
• Norepinephrine • Cholecystokinin
• Epinephrine • Somatostatin
• Histamine • Oxytocin and
• Acetylcholine Vasopressin
• Neuropeptide Y
DOPAMINE
DA Tract Origin Innervation Function
Nigrostriatal Substantia nigra Caudate Extrapyradimal
nucleus movement

Mesolimbic Ventral Limbic areas Arousal, memory,

tegmental area stimulus
processing,
behavior
Mesocortical Ventral Frontal and Cognition,
tegmental area pre-frontal communication,
cortex social function
Stress response
Tubero- Hypothalamus Pituitary gland Regulates
infundibular prolactin release
area
 SEROTONIN
• Serotonin is synthesized from the amino acid Tryptophan.
• The synthesis of serotonin involve two reactions:
 1) 1) Hydroxylation:
 Tryptophan 5- Hydroxytryptophan
• The enzyme catalyzes this reaction is Tryptophan Hydroxylase.
 The Co- factor is Tetrahydrobiopterin, which converted in this reaction to
Dihydrobiopterin.
 2) 2) Decarboxylation:
 5- hydroxytryptophan Serotonin
 The enzyme is hydroxytryptophan decarboxylase.
• Serotonin is synthesized in CNS, & Chromaffin cells.
 Break down of serotonin:

 Serotonin is degraded in two reactions

1) Oxidation: Monoamine oxidase

5-hydroxytryptoamine + O2 + H2O 5- Hydroxyinodole-3-acetaldehyde

2) Dehydrogenation Aldehyde dehydrogenase

5- Hydroxyinodole-3-acetaldehyde 5-hydroxindole-3-acetate
(Anion of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid)

10
 The serotonergic pathway
showing the effects of
schizophrenia

The two key serotonergic pathways in

schizophrenia are the projections
from the dorsal raphe nuclei into the
substantia nigra and the projections
from the rostral raphe nuclei
ascending into the cerebral cortex,
limbic regions and basal ganglia. The
up-regulation of these pathways leads
to hypofunction of the dopaminergic
system, and this effect may be
responsible for the negative
symptoms of schizophrenia. The
serotonergic nuclei in the brainstem
that give rise to descending
serotonergic axons remain unaffected
in schizophrenia.
 AMINO ACIDS

Amino acids are the most abundant

neurotransmitters in the brain. Nichols
suggested: “amino acids synapses exceed
those of all the other neurotransmitters
combined…amino acids are responsible
for almost all the fast signaling between
neurons, leaving predominantly
modulatory roles for the other
transmitters.”
 Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter and is distributed
in all regions of the brain. The major conditions associated with this
NT are EXCITOTOXICITY and SCHIZOPHRENIA.

 GABA is the major inhibitory NT. The major conditions associated

with this are ANXIETY and SEIZURE DISORDER.

 Glycine does double duty as a mandatory adjunctive NT for

glutamate activity and as independent inhibitory NT at its own
receptors. Improvement of NMDA receptor activity by occupancy of
the glycine-binding site has been hypothesized to present an
adjunctive mode for the treatment of shizophrenia.
 Neuropeptides

Function of Neuropeptides:

There are cells in the brain that produce various neuropeptides, and
these neuropeptides do just about everything.

They can be either pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory, with anti-

inflammatory being preferred. They are responsible for many functions:

They control our mood, energy levels, pain and pleasure reception, body
weight, and ability to solve problems; they also form memories and
regulate our immune system.

These active little messengers in the brain actually turn on cellular

function in the skin.
 Substance P – Huntingtons dse., dementia of the Alzheimer’s type,
and mood disorders.

 Neurotensin – involved in pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

 Cholecystokinin – causes anxiety and triggers panic attacks in

people with panic disorder.

 Somatostatin – Huntington’s disease and dementia of the

Alzheimer’s type.

 Vasopressin and Oxytocin - involved in regulation of mood.

 Neuropeptide Y – stimulates appetite.

THANK YOU & GOOD DAY