Lecture 1: Foundations of Neuroscience I

Question 1

main nervous system function

Answer 1

sending messages between body & brain, b/w body & outside

Question 2

spinal cord function

Answer 2

receives & processes sensory info from body

Question 3

brain stem function

Answer 3

conveys info b/w spinal cord & brain
- regulates arousal & awareness
- cardiovascular, respiratory

Question 4

medulla oblongata function

Answer 4

autonomic (digestion, breathing, control of heart rate)
- part of brain stem

Question 5

pons function

Answer 5

conveys info about movement from cerebrum -> cerebellum

Question 6

cerebellum function

Answer 6

learning of motor skills, modulates force & range of movement

Question 7

midbrain

Answer 7

controls sensory & motor fxn

Question 8

diencephalon components

Answer 8

thalamus, hypothalamus

Question 9

thalamus function

Answer 9

processes senosry info reaching the cerebral cortex

Question 10

hypothalamus function

Answer 10

regulates autonomic, endocrine, & visceral fxn

Question 11

cerebrum parts

Answer 11

cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, amygdala

Question 12

four lobes of cerebrum

Answer 12

frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal

Question 13

frontal lobe function

Answer 13

logic, decision making, executive function

Question 14

parietal lobe function

Answer 14

somatosensory cortex

Question 15

occipital lobe main function

Answer 15

vision

Question 16

what do lesions to the occipital lobe cause

Answer 16

blindness

Question 17

what is the occipital lobe pathway to the parietal lobe important for

Answer 17

location & manipulation of objects in visual space

Question 18

what is the pathway of the occipital lobe to temporal lobe important for

Answer 18

object ID, including recognition of individual faces

Question 19

temporal lobe function

Answer 19

auditory, memory, object ID, lots of stuff

Question 20

broad cerebrum function

Answer 20

higher cognitive processing & motor planning

Question 21

anterior cingulate cortex function

Answer 21

emotion, pain perception, cognition
- critical in drug abuse, allows you to have emotion attached to pain

Question 22

insular cortex function

Answer 22

emotion, homeostasis, taste perception
- important for recognition of self

Question 23

corpus callosum diseases

Answer 23

microglia can attack myelin sheath, associated w/ different psychiatric disorders

Question 24

Brodmann area

Answer 24

map of the brain divided into 52 areas

Question 25

glia function

Answer 25

support for neurons & provide brain w/ structure

Question 26

what are microglia

Answer 26

immunocompetent & phagocytic cells of nervous system - maintain brain health & fxn

Question 27

how do microglia function in immune surveillance & defense

Answer 27

continuously monitoring the brain environment for pathogens, damaged cells, & other threats such as bacteria & viruses

Question 28

microglia function in brain homeostasis & repair

Answer 28

remove cellular debris & dead neurons, pruning synapses (synaptic plasticity), promote neurogenesis & neuronal survival

Question 29

other functions of microglia

Answer 29

antigen presentation, self-renewal, cytokine & chemokine production, trophic support for remyelination, immunosenescence, BBB permeability

Question 30

astrocyte functions

Answer 30

- tripartite synapse - BBB maintenance - structural support - regulates ionic balance & brain pH (homeostasis) - NT metabolism - formation & regulation of synapses - nutrient supply - detoxification - neuroprotection - higher order brain function

Question 31

oligodendrocytes & Schwann cells function

Answer 31

form a myelin sheath around neurons, insulating them & speeding up neural transmission

Question 32

diseases caused by dysfunction of oligodendrocytes & Schwann cells

Answer 32

multiple sclerosis, and amytrophic lateral sclerosis

Question 33

what is the BBB?

Answer 33

highly selective semi-permeable membrane b/w blood & interstitium of the brain

Question 34

what does the BBB do?

Answer 34

shields brain from toxic substances, filters harmful compounds from brain to bloodstream, supplies brain with nutrinets

Question 35

what forms the BBB

Answer 35

network of tightly joined endothelial cells, pericytes, & astrocytes that line capillaries in the brain

Question 36

active components of the BBB

Answer 36

physical barriers (tight jxns), metabolic barriers (enzymes), & transporter barriers (p-glycoproteins)

Question 37

what disrupts the BBB

Answer 37

injury, inflammation, infection, & certain drugs

Question 38

what family of transporters are p-glycoproteins in

Answer 38

ATP binding cassette transporters (ABC)

Question 39

what do p-glycoproteins do

Answer 39

actively pump drugs out of the brain as soon as they enter; referred to as xenobiotic efflux pumps

Question 40

what drugs can get through the BBB

Answer 40

uncharged, lipophilic, amino acid / NT precursor-like, and/or molecules w/ low molecular weights

Question 41

which areas do not have BBB

Answer 41

posterior pituitary and subfornical organ

Question 42

posterior pituitary function

Answer 42

needs neurosecretory products to pass across endothelial cells into circulation - no BBB

Question 43

subfornical organ function

Answer 43

chemoreceptive area that monitors blood angiotensin II levels to regulate water balance

Question 44

what facilitates movement across the BBB

Answer 44

- diffusion - membrane transport - efflux pumps - transcytosis

Question 45

what diffuses across the BBB?

Answer 45

mostly water, ions, gases

Question 46

what is transported by membrane transporters

Answer 46

solute carriers (SLC transport proteins)

Question 47

what do efflux pumps do in the BBB

Answer 47

ABC transporters that use ATP hydrolysis to bring solutes against concentration gradients

Question 48

how does transcytosis work in BBB

Answer 48

uses vesicular transport system of endothelial cells

Question 49

how does the permeability coefficient of the BBB relate to the lipid solubility of a substance?

Answer 49

directly proportional - increasing lipid solubility of a drug enhances delievery into brain

Question 50

why is uptake of phenobarbital & phenytoin lower than predicted?

Answer 50

due to plasma protein binding - onset of activity is slow

Question 51

why is uptake of glucose & L-DOPA greater than predicted?

Answer 51

due to carriers that facilitate their transport