Neuroanatomy Neurophysiology CellularMolecular Neuroscience Neuropharmacology Developmental Neurobiology Genetics
ΝΕΥΡΟΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΕΣ • Neuroanatomy • Neurophysiology • Cellular/Molecular Neuroscience • Neuropharmacology • Developmental Neurobiology • Genetics of the NS • Systems Neuroscience • Behavioural Neuroscience • Computational Neuroscience • Theoretical Neuroscience • COGNITIVE NEYROSCIENCE: how does the brain enable the mind?
Computational models of neuronal circuits Integrating anatomical and physiological data to provide “understanding” ‘I am never content until I have constructed a mathematical model of what I am studying. If I succeed in making one, I understand; otherwise I do not’ William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)
Spatial scale What does it mean “To Understand the brain? ” Centimeters Clearly - A THEORY is required to explains how the brain ingredients (its anatomical units; its electro-chemical signals) Millimeters generate “high level” phenomena (perception, action, emotions) Micrometers Nanometers From molecules to behavior The BIG - difficult question: Meters
Structure of modern brain centers & central role of theory Neuroscience of Neurological & cognitive Disorders Human & Primate Behavior and Cognition Plasticity & Developmental Neuroscience Quantitative Analysis of Neuronal circuits Computational & theoretical Neuroscience
• "You, your joys and sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and your free will are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules" • (Francis Crick, Nobel Laureate 1962 – “the father of DNA”). "Machine think? You bet! We’re machines and we think, don’t we? " (Claude Shannon – “the father of information age”)
• Localisation of function? • Flourens: no matter where he made the lesion, the bird recovered => aggregate field (όλα παντού) • Gall & Spurzheim (~1800): φρενολογία
Gall & Spurzheim (~1800): φρενολογία
H. Jackson: - χάρτης του σώματος σε ασθενείς με επιληψία - πάντα μερική απώλεια σε εγκεφαλικά but… “it is rare for a patient to totally lose a function” (many regions of the brain contribute to a given behaviour)
Histology
• • Italy vs. Spain: silver staining method (la reazione negra) + the neuron doctrine Cajal: unitary nature of neurons & unidirectional transmision & synapse Golgi: no discrete entities, a continuous mass of tissue sharing a common cytoplasm (note that this is a different type of debate on holisticism)
Historical perspective for “brain ingredients” Key players 1665 – First use of simple microscope to view living cells (Robert Hooke) 1839 – “Cell theory” (Theodor Schwann) – but is it true for the brain? 1870 – Camilo Golgi develops his silver-based method, for randomly staining nerve cells 1887 – S. Ramon Y. Cajal uses Golgi technique – proposes the “neuron doctrine” 1891 – Hienrich Waldeyer – coined the word “Neuron” 1897 - Charles Sherrington coined the word “synapse”
Brodmann: structure implies function
- Slides: 26