Lecture 1: Overview and History: Brain, Neurons and Synapses Flashcards
What disciplines combine to create neuroscience?
neurology, psychiatry, and neuroscience
What is neurology?
the medial specialty encompassing diseases, conditions and infections of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves
usually associated with physical changes in nervous system
What is psychiatry?
psychiatry is the medial specialty emcompassing the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illnesses and includes addiction and substance use disorders
physical changes in nervous system are usually not obvious
What is neuroscience?
the scientific study of the brain and nervous system, including molecular neuroscience, cellular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychophysics and computational modeling
What was the most prevalent idea of brain function in 300 BC?
recognizes that the brain is the major controlling center in the body
earlier ideas focused on the heart as the organ for perception, feelings, etc.
e.g. Aristotle, ~350 BC, thought brain cooled the passions of the heart
What was the most prevalent idea of brain function in 100 BC?
Galen examined brains by vivisections in animals
introduced the idea of spirits (pneumata) circulating between liver, heart and brain
proposed that animal spirits produced in the lining of the ventricles of the brain flowed into nerves to produce movement, and that the seat of the “rational soul” was in the brain
Galen’s ideas dominated thinking about brain function for more than 1500 years
Who was Al-Zahrawi (936 - 1013)?
surgeon/physician, pioneer of neurosurgery
first description of surgery to relieve hydrocephalus (fluid buildup)
pioneer of “neurosurgery”
Who was Avicenna (980 - 1037)?
considered the father of modern medicine
The Cannon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia
early identification of schizophrenia
Who was Andreus Vesalius (1514 - 1564)?
founded modern anatomy by dissecting humans
discovered that critical features of Calen’s anatomy were incorrect, e.g. the network of fine arteries at the base of the brain found by Galen in animals is virtually absent in humans
Galen considered this network was the link in the transport of “vital spirits” to and from the brain
Who was Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)?
proposed that spirits flowed to and fro from the pineal gland via nerves
recognized the existence of reflexes, but did not use this term
What were the three major concepts promoted by Descartes?
- only humans have a thinking mind, animals lack abstract thought and do not experience emotions (animals are complex stimulus-response machines)
- dualism: mind (immaterial) and body (material) are separate
- mind and body interact in the pineal gland, movements of this gland direct the flow of spirits through the nervous system
all these concepts are false, but the idea of dualism still persists
What was the Virtuosi?
group of scholars at Oxford during the time of Thomas Willis
scientific thinking flourished during the Renaissance
Renaissance was driven by the idea that natural laws can explain the workings of the material world
Who was Luigi Galvani (1737 - 1798)?
obtained indirect evidence for intrinsic electrical activity in the nervous system
difficult to prove because because no method for measuring electrical activity was available
measured directly in mid-1800’s by du Bois-Reymond using sensitive galvanometers
electrically evoked movements in frog legs
brain function mediated by electrical signals
Who was Jean-Martin Charcot (1825 - 1893)?
founder of modern neurology
keen observer of signs and symptoms
carefully examined nervous system in postmortems
described/classified features of many disorders (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
founding of modern neurology (signs and symptoms)
Who was Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852 - 1934)?
extraordinary neuroanatomist
Golgi staining revealed structure of individual nerve cells
concept of unidirectional flow of information along nerve cells
visualization of neurons, strong support for the “neuron doctrine”
