scholarly journals Mammalian Brains Are Made of These: A Dataset of the Numbers and Densities of Neuronal and Nonneuronal Cells in the Brain of Glires, Primates, Scandentia, Eulipotyphlans, Afrotherians and Artiodactyls, and Their Relationship with Body Mass

2015 ◽  
Vol 86 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 145-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzana Herculano-Houzel ◽  
Kenneth Catania ◽  
Paul R. Manger ◽  
Jon H. Kaas
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
The Body ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Scaling Rule

Comparative studies amongst extant species are one of the pillars of evolutionary neurobiology. In the 20th century, most comparative studies remained restricted to analyses of brain structure volume and surface areas, besides estimates of neuronal density largely limited to the cerebral cortex. Over the last 10 years, we have amassed data on the numbers of neurons and other cells that compose the entirety of the brain (subdivided into cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and rest of brain) of 39 mammalian species spread over 6 clades, as well as their densities. Here we provide that entire dataset in a format that is readily useful to researchers of any area of interest in the hope that it will foster the advancement of evolutionary and comparative studies well beyond the scope of neuroscience itself. We also reexamine the relationship between numbers of neurons, neuronal densities and body mass, and find that in the rest of brain, but not in the cerebral cortex or cerebellum, there is a single scaling rule that applies to average neuronal cell size, which increases with the linear dimension of the body, even though there is no single scaling rule that relates the number of neurons in the rest of brain to body mass. Thus, larger bodies do not uniformly come with more neurons - but they do fairly uniformly come with larger neurons in the rest of brain, which contains a number of structures directly connected to sources or targets in the body.

Neurologic Disorders Categorized by Anatomical Involvement

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Crum ◽  
Eduardo E. Benarroch ◽  
Robert D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Contralateral Side ◽  
The Body ◽  
Neurologic Symptom ◽  
Visuospatial Deficits ◽  
Neurologic Disorders ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Symptoms And Signs ◽  
Cardiovascular Functions

Neurological disorders of the brain, spine, and peripheral nervous system are examined. Symptoms and signs related to disorders of the cerebral cortex may lead to alterations in cognition and consciousness. Unilateral neurologic symptoms involving a single neurologic symptom commonly localize to the cerebral cortex. Abnormalities of speech and language are localized to the dominant cerebral hemisphere, whereas abnormalities of the nondominant hemisphere may lead to visuospatial deficits, confusion, or neglect of the contralateral side of the body. The hypothalamus is important in many functions that affect everyday steady-state conditions, including temperature regulation, hunger, water regulation, sleep, endocrine functions, cardiovascular functions, and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Cortical and subcortical abnormalities may also lead to visual system deficits, usually homonymous visual defects of the contralateral visual field. Sensory levels, signs of anterior horn cell involvement, and long-tract signs in the posterior columns or corticospinal tract suggest a spinal cord lesion.

scholarly journals Cellular Scaling Rules for the Brains of Marsupials: Not as “Primitive” as Expected

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra E. Dos Santos ◽  
Jairo Porfirio ◽  
Felipe B. da Cunha ◽  
Paul R. Manger ◽  
William Tavares ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Mammalian Evolution ◽  
Cerebellar Neurons ◽  
Scaling Relationships ◽  
Cerebral Cortical Neurons ◽  
The Brain

In the effort to understand the evolution of mammalian brains, we have found that common relationships between brain structure mass and numbers of nonneuronal (glial and vascular) cells apply across eutherian mammals, but brain structure mass scales differently with numbers of neurons across structures and across primate and nonprimate clades. This suggests that the ancestral scaling rules for mammalian brains are those shared by extant nonprimate eutherians - but do these scaling relationships apply to marsupials, a sister group to eutherians that diverged early in mammalian evolution? Here we examine the cellular composition of the brains of 10 species of marsupials. We show that brain structure mass scales with numbers of nonneuronal cells, and numbers of cerebellar neurons scale with numbers of cerebral cortical neurons, comparable to what we have found in eutherians. These shared scaling relationships are therefore indicative of mechanisms that have been conserved since the first therians. In contrast, while marsupials share with nonprimate eutherians the scaling of cerebral cortex mass with number of neurons, their cerebella have more neurons than nonprimate eutherian cerebella of a similar mass, and their rest of brain has fewer neurons than eutherian structures of a similar mass. Moreover, Australasian marsupials exhibit ratios of neurons in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum over the rest of the brain, comparable to artiodactyls and primates. Our results suggest that Australasian marsupials have diverged from the ancestral Theria neuronal scaling rules, and support the suggestion that the scaling of average neuronal cell size with increasing numbers of neurons varies in evolution independently of the allocation of neurons across structures.

scholarly journals Vegetative State from the Perspective of Islamic Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3&4) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Hossein Shamsi Gooshki ◽  
Seyyed Hassan Abedian Kalkhoran ◽  
Seyyed Mohammad Mahdi Ahmadi ◽  
Abolfazl Khoshi ◽  
Hassan Goodarzi
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Death ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
Vegetative State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Judicial Affairs ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain

<p>The death of the cerebral cortex is a particular type of brain death that occurs after the destruction of the cerebral cortex (the hemispheres of the brain). It is said that the individual has gone through a vegetative state. This cortex is responsible for controlling voluntary activities of the body. This condition is caused by a coma (anesthesia), and sometimes the individual remains in this state for several years. Although the person looks awake, his/her eyes are open and has some involuntary movements, there is no signs of mental and cognitive function. Moreover, the individual is physically in a state of dementia. Coma is a state in which a person cannot be awakened and does not respond to any stimulation including pain. Generally it lasts few days to a few weeks, after which some patients gradually recover, but some permanently lose all brain function (brain death), while others evolve to a vegetative state (VS). Patients in VS are unconscious and unaware of their surroundings, but they continue to have a sleep-wake cycle and can have periods of consciousness. They are able to breathe spontaneously, retain their gag, cough, sucking, and swallowing reflexes. They often look fairly “normal” to families and friends who hope and pray for their full recovery. Laws and regulations in Islamic countries originate from popular jurisprudence. Therefore, by arguing that the well-known principles of Islam are necessarily legitimate, the phenomenon of vegetative state has been recognized. Jurisprudents have conflicting opinions on brain deaths and these perspectives cannot be considered as a widespread legal basis at the level of macro policy for administrative, medical and judicial affairs. In criminal law, maniac has no criminal responsibility because the punishment is not in line with the purpose of punishment. Consequently, restrictions will be imposed on the patients. Therefore, it can be concluded that a person with vegetative state is compatible with the insanity.</p>

scholarly journals Sustained blood glutamate scavenging enhances protection in ischemic stroke

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahlem Zaghmi ◽  
Antonio Dopico-López ◽  
María Pérez-Mato ◽  
Ramón Iglesias-Rey ◽  
Pablo Hervella ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ischemic Stroke ◽  
Infarct Volume ◽  
Neuronal Cell Death ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Treated Group ◽  
The Body ◽  
Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase ◽  
Glutamate Scavenging ◽  
Blood Glutamate Scavenging ◽  
The Brain

AbstractStroke is a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and disability. During ischemic stroke, a marked and prolonged rise of glutamate concentration in the brain causes neuronal cell death. This study explores the protective effect of a bioconjugate form of glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (hrGOT), which catalyzes the depletion of blood glutamate in the bloodstream for ~6 days following a single administration. When treated with this bioconjugate, a significant reduction of the infarct volume and a better retention of sensorimotor function was observed for ischemic rats compared to those treated with saline. Moreover, the equivalent dose of native hrGOT yielded similar results to the saline treated group for some tests. Targeting the bioconjugate to the blood-brain-barrier did not improve its performance. The data suggest that the bioconjugates draw glutamate out of the brain by displacing homeostasis between the different glutamate pools of the body.

scholarly journals A Model for Brain Life History Evolution

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio González-Forero ◽  
Timm Faulwasser ◽  
Laurent Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
The Body ◽  
Brain Mass ◽  
History Evolution ◽  
The Brain

AbstractMathematical modeling of brain evolution is scarce, possibly due in part to the difficulty of describing how brain relates to fitness. Yet such modeling is needed to formalize verbal arguments and deepen our understanding of brain evolution. To address this issue, we combine elements of life history and metabolic theories to formulate a metabolically explicit mathematical model for brain life history evolution. We assume that some of the brain’s energetic expense is due to production (learning) and maintenance (memory) of skills (or cognitive abilities, knowledge, information, etc.). We also assume that individuals use skills to extract energy from the environment, and can allocate this energy to grow and maintain the body, including brain and reproductive tissues. Our model can be used to ask what fraction of growth energy should be allocated to the growth of brain and other tissues at each age under various biological settings as a result of natural selection. We apply the model to find uninvadable allocation strategies under a “me-against-nature” setting, namely when overcoming environmentally determined energy-extraction challenges does not involve any interactions with other individuals (possibly except caregivers), and using parameter values for modern humans. The uninvadable strategies yield predictions for brain and body mass throughout ontogeny, as well as for the ages at maturity, adulthood, and brain growth arrest. We find that (1) a me-against-nature setting is enough to generate adult brain and body mass of ancient human scale, (2) large brains are favored by intermediately challenging environments, moderately effective skills, and metabolically expensive memory, and (3) adult skill number is proportional to brain mass when metabolic costs of memory saturate the brain metabolic rate allocated to skills. Overall, our model is a step towards a quantitative theory of brain life history evolution yielding testable quantitative predictions as ecological, demographic, and social factors vary.Author SummaryUnderstanding what promotes the evolution of a given feature is often helped by mathematical modeling. However, mathematical modeling of brain evolution has remained scarce, possibly because of difficulties describing mathematically how the brain relates to reproductive success, which is the currency of evolution. Here we combine elements of two research fields that have previously been successful at detailing how a feature impacts reproductive success (life history theory) and at predicting the individual’s body mass throughout its life without the need to describe in detail the inner workings of the body (metabolic theory). We apply the model to a setting where individuals must extract energy from the environment without interacting with other individuals except caregivers (“me-against-nature”) and parameterize the model with data from humans. In this setting, the model can correctly predict a variety of human features, including large brain sizes. Our model can be used to obtain testable quantitative predictions in terms of brain mass throughout an individual’s life from assumed hypotheses promoting brain evolution, such as harsh environments or plentiful social interactions.

scholarly journals Olive cake in the feeding of fattening rabbits

Stočarstvo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Vlatko Rupić ◽  
Svjetlana Luterotti ◽  
Mato Čačić ◽  
Vlatka Romanović ◽  
Ivana Čačić
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
The Body ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Histopathological Changes ◽  
Feed Conversion ◽  
Olive Cake ◽  
Experimental Feeding ◽  
Mass Feed ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Experimental Group

Nutritive effect of different levels (10% and 20%) of dried olive cake on the body mass, feed conversion ratio and histopathological changes in tissues in conventionally bred Hyla rabbits was investigated. During a 56-day experimental feeding regime, 60 rabbits were divided into a control group and two experimental groups with 20 animals each (10 males and 10 females). Control group received no olive cake, while the first experimental group received 10% and the second experimental group 20% of dried olive cake throughout the whole feeding period. No significant differences in the body mass were found between the groups in the trial. In both experimental groups, feed conversion was better than in the control group. Histopathological tests were performed on a total of 28 rabbits. Histopathological changes observed in the brain, heart and kidneys of rabbits were the consequence of pathological activity of microsporidian Encephalitozoon cuniculi found in all groups. In the rabbits of both experimental groups fed with olive cake, deposition of fat in the heart, liver, lymph nodes, thyroid gland, adrenal gland and pancreas might be explained by the greater amount of fat from olive oil in the meal. Statistically significant was only the fat deposition in the liver, namely, in hepatocytes. Histopathological screening identified pathological action of fungus Cyniclomyces guttulatus in the digestive tract of all rabbit groups which caused inflammation of the mucous membranes (enteritis) of the entire digestive system (from the stomach to the large intestine) and therefore possibly interfered with the absorption of certain nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.).

scholarly journals BIOCHEMICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL MARKERS OF EXPERIMENTAL SCOPOLAMINE-INDUCED NEURODEGENERATION AND THE EFFECT OF ENALAPRIL ON THEM

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 2114-2119
Author(s):  
Оlga G. Kmet ◽  
Nаtaliia D. Filipets ◽  
Taras I. Kmet ◽  
Yurii M. Vepriuk ◽  
Kateryna V. Vlasova
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Thiobarbituric Acid ◽  
The Body ◽  
Male Rats ◽  
Antioxidant Protection ◽  
Morphological Markers ◽  
Peroxide Oxidation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Reduced Intensity ◽  
Number Of Cells

The aim: Was to study enalapril effect on protein peroxide oxidation and lipids of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats with neurodegeneration pattern. Materials and methods: The experiments were conducted on nonlinear albino male rats 0,18-0,20 kg of the body weight. Modeled neurodegeneration was simulated by intraperitoneal introduction of scopolamine hydrochloride during 27 days in the dose of 1 mg/kg. Enalapril was introduced intraperitoneal in the dose of 1 mg/kg. Results: In rats with modeled scopolamine-induced neurodegeneration in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus under enalapril effect, the content of products, reacting with 2-thiobarbituric acid and proteins of a neutral and major character, decreases, which is indicative of a reduced intensity of lipid and protein peroxide oxidation. Morphologic the number of cells with karyopyknosis signs decreases and a relative staining density of the neuron tigroid substance increases, which is indicative of inhibition of the progress of the cerebral neurodestructive processes under conditions of scopolamine-induced damage. Conclusions: The obtained results are indicative of enalapril ability to improve the examined indices, which is the evidence of increased processes of antioxidant protection and possibility to inhibit neurodegeneration development in case of scopolamine induced lesion of the brain.

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