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Neuroscience Slides - Principles
Neuroscience Slides - Principles
Introduction
What is Behavioral Neuroscience?
Terminology refers more to the subject matter than the scientists’ training:
Neuroscientists can be computer scientists, chemists, psychologists, physiologists,
mathematicians, etc..
Why study the brain and nervous system?
• In antiquity the heart and the gut organs were thought to control
emotions.
• Pharaohs embalmed other organs, but not the brain
• Aristotle thought the brain acted as a cooling mechanism.
French Philosopher
Rene Descartes
1596-1650
The rise of Empiricism in Neuroscience
• What evidence do we have from our own experiences that the mind is
created from processes in the brain?
• Drugs affect behavior by acting on the brain
• Lesions and neurodegeneration affect mental processes
• People with brain development issues display impaired cognition
The Mind-Brain Relationship: Functional Localization
Damasio H., Grabowski T,. Frank R., Galaburda AM., Damasio AR. (1994). "The return of Phineas
Gage: Clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient.“ Science 264 (5162): 1102-5.
Old Phrenology (a wrong and outdated theory)
• Important neuroscience
“principles” in this course will be
highlighted with slides in GREEN
background
Everything in Neuroscience should be considered with an evolutionary frame
Anatomical organization
is relatively well-conserved
across species.
Other similarities:
Connections
Brain chemicals
Genes
Piloerection
Cellular &
• Molecules
UNIT 1 Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
UNIT 2
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
UNIT 3
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
The earliest animals with nervous systems lived hundreds of millions of years ago in
primordial oceans, …and similar creatures (jellyfish) still live in the ocean today.
www.patienthelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Choroid-plexus-
Location.jpg
Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges
• Meningitis occurs
when the meninges
become inflamed,
often from a bacterial
or viral infection
• It is a life-threatening
condition because it
can lead to infections
of the nervous system
which may be fatal
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Two major subdivisions of the nervous system
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Circuit-level analysis of neural computations
• Once it is known that a brain region contains neurons
that perform specific functions, we may begin to ask
how the neurons in that region are interconnected
subsystems
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Classifying neural populations by morphology
• Neurons come in many different shapes & sizes
(morphologies)
• Branching patterns of axonal and dendritic arbors
exhibit diverse morphology, much like that
observed among trees
http://www.lonza.com/
WEEPING WILLOW TREE POMPOUS TREE CLIMBING VINES DORSAL ROOT
www.featurepics.com/online/Winter-Bare- GANGLION
Pompous-Tree-Branches-611136.aspx
NEURONS
photos-public-domain.com
www.people.vcu.edu/~kmjacobs/
www.gardenality.com
NOTE: Many neurons project to both local and distant targets, but any neuron that projects
to at least one distant target is usually considered to be a projection neuron
Single-unit recording: Identifying neural
populations by their firing properties
subsystems
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Neurons vs. Glia
• The nervous system is composed
from two main cell types: NERVOUS SYSTEM
• Neurons
• Glial cells (or glia) NEURONS GLIA
(50%) (50%)
Neurons
• Neurons are cells that generate fast electrical impulses called action
potentials (or spikes)
• This fast signaling allows interconnected networks of neurons to
rapidly sense and respond to environmental events
Optical recording of neural activity
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Neuronal Compartments
• A tree can be subdivided into functionally
distinct “compartments”: roots, branches,
leaves, flowers, etc.
• A neuron can also be subdivided into
soma functionally distinct compartments:
Postsynaptic Cell
Presynaptic Cell
Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Different ion channels in different neural compartments
Ion Channels
VOLTAGE-GATED
SODIUM CHANNEL
LIGAND-GATED
SODIUM
CHANNEL
VOLTAGE-GATED
POTASSIUM
CHANNEL
nucleus
AXON DENDRITES
Ion Pumps
SOMA
Na+/K+ ATPase
PUMP Active zone