Neuroscience

Front 1

What is the functional unit of the nervous system?

Back 1

The neurone

Front 2

Neurons are functionally polarised, what does this mean?

Back 2

information flows in one direction. (input) --> dendrites --> soma--> axon--> (output)

Front 3

What do neurons communicate by?

Back 3

Specific contact points called synapses

Front 4

What does CT stand for?

Back 4

Computed tomography

Front 5

What does MRI stand for?

Back 5

Magnetic resonance imaging

Front 6

What does PET stand for?

Back 6

Positron emission tomography

Front 7

The input to the brain is ?

Back 7

Senses

Front 8

The output of the brain is?

Back 8

motor functions

Front 9

Where is the fusiform face area located?

Back 9

in the temporal lobe

Front 10

What is the scientific name for someone who is unable to recognise faces?

Back 10

Prosopagnosia (face blindness) - when the fusiform face area is deficient

Front 11

When the rod disrupted Phineas Cage's brain, what happened?

Back 11

His personality changed

Front 12

What happens to the brain in Alzheimer's disease?

Back 12

There are anatomical (shrinkage of cortex and hippocampus) and behavioural changes (loss of old memories and inability to learn new things). Neurons degenerate

Front 13

What information did dissection of brains gain?

Back 13

anatomical names and drawings

Front 14

What information did Light Microscope (LM) methods gain?

Back 14

Microscopic features and connections

Front 15

The Golgi method uses a silver stain, what features does this study?

Back 15

cell bodies and dendrites

Front 16

What does Nissl staining show?

Back 16

cell bodies (nuclei)

Front 17

What does myelin staining study?

Back 17

myelinated axons

Front 18

What is myelin staining not good for?

Back 18

not good for cell body study

Front 19

What is the golgi method not good for?

Back 19

not good for studying axons

Front 20

Together, the golgi method, nissl staining and myelin staining allowed what to be determined?

Back 20

the 6 layers of the human cerebral cortex

Front 21

What did Electron microscope methods allow to be studied?

Back 21

subcellular elements (such as synapses)

Front 22

What does anterograde degeneration signify?

Back 22

axons have degenerated

Front 23

what does retrograde degeneration signify?

Back 23

cell bodies have degenerated

Front 24

Lesion studies allow what?

Back 24

relation of nervous system location to function

Front 25

There are two types of lesion studies, what are these?

Back 25

clinical (relation to human disorder) and experimental (lesion caused in animal- see what happens)

Front 26

Why are lesion studies limited?

Back 26

compensation may occur (other part of brain taking over function of disrupted part of brain)

Front 27

Electrical stimulation of the brain can build what?

Back 27

sensory and motor maps- called homunculus

Front 28

Electrical stimulation is limited because?

Back 28

It treats the brain as a black box- tells us nothing about the connections

Front 29

The modern technique of tract tracing allows identification of what?

Back 29

axons or cell bodies

Front 30

Anterograde tracing detects what?

Back 30

Axon terminals- (the tracer is placed in the vicinity of the cell body- taken up and transported to accumulate in the axon terminals)

Front 31

Retrograde tracing detects what?

Back 31

Cell bodies ( tracer is placed in vicinity of axon terminals- taken up-transported to accumulate in cell body)

Front 32

what type of tracer is horse radish peroxidase (HRP)?

Back 32

retrograde tracer

Front 33

What type of tracer is radioactive amino acids

Back 33

good for both retrograde and anterograde tracing- (detected by autoradiography)

Front 34

What type of tracer is good for anterograde tracing?

Back 34

PHAL (extracted from the red kidney bean)

Front 35

Immunocytchemistry uses what to detect molecules in the CNS?

Back 35

antibodies

Front 36

In situ hybridisation is used to detect what?

Back 36

mRNA sequences produced in neurones

Front 37

What electrical recording method is invasive; CT, MRI or PET?

Back 37

PET is invasive

Front 38

What are the two types of cell that make up the brain and spinal cord?

Back 38

Neurons and glia

Front 39

What is the collective name for dendrites and axons?

Back 39

neurites

Front 40

What are most numerous: glia or neurons?

Back 40

glia

Front 41

What are the organelles of the cell body?

Back 41

Nucleus, Ribosome, Golgi apparatus, microtubules, mitochondria, lysosome, lipfucin bodies

Front 42

Numerous synapses are formed with dendrites- these are sometimes made into specialised structures called?

Back 42

spines

Front 43

The axon terminals form swellings that create synapses- what are these called?

Back 43

boutons

Front 44

Why does axoplasmic transport occur?

Back 44

Axons do not contain ribosomes- so protein must be transported to the axon along microtubules

Front 45

How fast can axoplasmic transport be?

Back 45

1000 mm/day

Front 46

Axoplasmic transport can go in both directions- what are these?

Back 46

Anterograde transport (away from cell body) and retrograde transport (towards cell body)

Front 47

The nerve cell membrane is what?

Back 47

semi-permeable

Front 48

How can neurons be classified?

Back 48

number of neurites, shape, what they connect with, how long axons are

Front 49

What percentage of the cells in the brain are glia?

Back 49

90%

Front 50

What are the three types of glia?

Back 50

Astrocytes, Oligodendrocytes, Microglia

Front 51

What is the most numerous type of glia?

Back 51

Astrocytes

Front 52

What type of glia contains many organelles and microtubules?

Back 52

oligodendrocytes

Front 53

What do oligodendrocytes do?

Back 53

Make myelin (a lipid sheath that surrounds axon)

Front 54

What do microglia do?

Back 54

remove waste- as a phagocyte- remove debris (dead neurons 100,000 a day)