Lecture 22- Studying neuronal function Flashcards Preview

(Anna) NEUR30003 - Principles of Neuroscience > Lecture 22- Studying neuronal function > Flashcards

Flashcards in Lecture 22- Studying neuronal function Deck (24)
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1
Q

What is neuroinformatics?

A

-what information about the brain should be collected and interrelated -what can we measure (spatial and temporal resolution)

2
Q

What are the nine areas of information sources in neuroinformatics?

A

1.Morphology 2. Location 3. Connectivity 4. Output neurochemistry 5. Input neurochemistry 6. Electrical behaviour 7. Homologies of other brains 8. Ontogeny 9. Functional data

3
Q

What information does location (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-shape, projections, branching patterns, soma shape

4
Q

What information does connectivity (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-inputs and outputs: size, location, type

5
Q

What information does output neurochemistry (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-primary and secondary neurotransmitters

6
Q

What information does input neurochemistry (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-receptor subtypes, 2nd messenger system/ interactions

7
Q

What information does electrical behaviour (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-distribution of channels and pumps

8
Q

What information does ontogeny (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-history of gene expression, migration and environmental interaction

9
Q

What information does functional data (neuroinformatics) consist of?

A

-effects of lesions, results of modeling, experiments

10
Q

What are the two main types of neuronal cells in the brain in terms of structure?

A

-pyramidal (longer, fewer branches) -stellate (highly branching, more condensed)

11
Q

What does the Brodman’s cortical map show?

A

map based on subtle differences in neuron types

12
Q

What techniques can you use to see a neuron?

A
  • eye
  • light microscope
  • electron microscope
13
Q

What can you resolve with an eye?

A

-man height, hand finger -cannot see cells (about 10x smaller than our resolution)

14
Q

What can you resolve with a light microscope?

A

-thickness of hair -cell -cellular components (such as bacterium) -limited by the wavelength of light (200nm)

15
Q

What can you resolve with an electron microscope?

A

-molecular scale -virus -macromolecule, small molecule all the way to individual atoms

16
Q

What are we actually looking at when using a light microscope?

A
  • dead tissue, slice, it is fixed and only spatial
  • want refractive index like glass so you can see
  • must fix it
  • thinly sliced etc. shine light from below= is refracted by the specimen and collected in the lens
  • must collect as much light as possible so you can actually see it (otherwise can’t)
17
Q

What is spatial resolution of light microscopes governed by?

A

-Abbe limit -cannot resolve anything below 200nm -spatial resolution is governed by the refractive index, the wavelength of the light and how much light you can capture -there is a limit to how much resolution a light microscope can achieve

18
Q

How does fluorescence come into microscopy?

A

if sth giving off light then you can collect the light

  • so then you can see thing smaller than the resolution of the microscope
  • all the red dots= are synapses
  • you stain sth, put fluorescent substance in
  • so with light microscopes could estimate number of synapses
  • when fluorescent thing put in
19
Q

What is the GFP?

A

-green fluorescent protein -can insert it into cells which then express it and can see!

20
Q

How did people overcome the Abbe limit?

A

-super resolution microscopy, got around the Abbe limit of light microscope limit -illuminate the sample and make it sharper -can see individual molecule s (normally cannot see anything smaller than wavelength of light= 200nm) ,molecules about 12nm

21
Q

What resolution do we need at the cellular membrane?

A

we need the cell membrane level resolution as that is where all the stuff happens -need fine spatial resolution -need fine temporal resolution as well as it happens quickly the change (milliseconds)

22
Q

What is the patch clamp electrode tip?

A

-electrode and its tip is so sharp you cannot see it, at the end has a little hole -makes the resolution of microscopy better

23
Q

What are the three ways of using the pipette with the hole to measure activity of a cell?

A

-can look at individual ion channels which is important as it is the basis of excitability thus communication in the nervous system

24
Q

What is this?

A

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