Chapter 5 Flashcards
CNS approaches
Ablation
Temporary blockades
stereotaxic surgery
experimental ablation
brain surgery using a stereotaxic apparatus to position an electrode or cannula in a specified position of the brain.
bregma
the junction of the sagittal and coronal sutures of the skull, often used as a reference point for stereotaxic brain surgery
Histological Techniques
anatomical techniques
- Perfuse (remove blood from brain)
- remove brain
- fix to solidify brain material (prevent autolysis)
- section brain into thin slices
- Use stains to highlight selective neural elements
scanning electron microscope
a microscope that provides 3-D info about the shape of the surface of a small object
Anterograde labeling method
tracing efferent axons
PHA-L
a protein derived from kidney beans and used as an retrograde tracer
- taken up by dendrites and cell bodies and carried to the ends of the axons
Immunocytochemical method
tracing efferent axons
a histological method that uses radioactive antibodies bound with a dye molecule to indicate the presence of particular proteins of peptides
retrograde labeling method
tracing afferent axons
a histological method that labels cell bodies that give rise to the terminal buttons that form synapses with cells in a particular region
fluorogold
a dye that serves as a retrograde label that is taken up by the terminal buttons and then carried back to the cell bodies
Pseudorabies virus (tracing afferent axons)
a weakened form of a pig virus; used for transneuronal tracing which labels a series of neurons that are interconnected synaptically
-permit anterograde and retrograde directions
experimental abalation
they destroy part of the brain (tissue) and evaluates the behavior of the animal
- lesions
soft spot on the head of a newborn baby at the junction of the coronal and sagittal sutures called the
fontanelle
bregma
formed once the fontanelle closes
histological methods
fixing, slicing and staining the brain
how do we verify the location of a lesion?
histological methods
metabolic activity of human brain measured through
PET scans or functional MRI scans
localizes peptides in the brain or localize enzymes that produce substances other than peptides
immunocytochemical methods
microdialysis
permits a researcher to measure the secretion of particular chemicals in specific regions of the brain.
enables investigators to estimate the role of heredity factors in a particular physiological characteristic or behavior
twin studies, adoption studies, and genomics
targeted mutations
artificially produced mutations that interfere with the action of one or more genes.
- enables an investigator to study the effects of the lack of a particular gene product
FOS
a protein produced in the nucleus of a neuron in response to synaptic stimulation
Positron emission tomography (PET)
the use of a device that reveals the localization of a radioactive tracer in the living brain
Functional MRI (fMRI)
a modification of the MRI procedure that permits the measurement of region metabolism in the brain.
