Why do the nerve tracts decussate? Basic principles of the vertebrate brain organization

2021 ◽  
Vol 84/117 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bartoš ◽  
Dušan Ospalík ◽  
Aleš Hejčl ◽  
Alberto Malucelli ◽  
Martin Sameš ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Organization ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Vertebrate Brain ◽  
Nerve Tracts

scholarly journals The developing dorsal ganglion of the salp Thalia democratica, and the nature of the ancestral chordate brain

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1378) ◽  
pp. 1943-1967 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. C. Lacalli ◽  
L. Z. Holland
Keyword(s):  
Motor Neurons ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Central Canal ◽  
The Body ◽  
Apical Surface ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Vertebrate Brain ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Dorsal Ganglion ◽  
Early Developmental

The development of the dorsal ganglion of the salp, Thalia democratica , is described from electron microscope reconstructions up to the stage of central neuropile formation. The central nervous system (CNS) rudiment is initially tubular with an open central canal. Early developmental events include: (i) the formation of a thick dorsal mantle of neuroblasts from which paired dorsal paraxial neuropiles arise; (ii) the differentiation of clusters of primary motor neurons along the ventral margin of the mantle; and (iii) the development from the latter of a series of peripheral nerves. The dorsal paraxial neuropiles ultimately connect to the large central neuropile, which develops later. Direct contact between neuroblasts and muscle appears to be involved in the development of some anterior nerves. The caudal nerves responsible for innervating more distant targets in the posterior part of the body develop without such contacts, which suggests that a different patterning mechanism may be employed in this part of the neuromuscular system. The results are compared with patterns of brain organization in other chordates. Because the salp CNS is symmetrical and generally less reduced than that of ascidian larvae, it is more easily compared with the CNS of amphioxus and vertebrates. The dorsal paraxial centres in the salp resemble the dorsolateral tectal centres in amphioxus in both position and organization; the central neuropile in salps likewise resembles the translumenal system in amphioxus. The neurons themselves are similar in that many of their neurites appear to be derived from the apical surface instead of the basal surface of the cell. Such neurons, with extensively developed apical neurites, may represent a new cell type that evolved in the earliest chordates in conjunction with the formation of translumenal or intralumenal integrative centres. In comparing the salp ganglion with vertebrates, we suggest that the main core of the ganglion is most like the mes–etencephalic region of the vertebrate brain, i.e. the zone occupied by the midbrain, isthmus, and anterior hindbrain. Counterparts of more anterior regions (forebrain) and posterior ones (segmented hindbrain) appear to be absent in salps, but are found in other tunicates, suggesting that evolution has acted quite differently on the main subdivisions of the CNS in different types of tunicates.

scholarly journals A little history goes a long way toward understanding why we study consciousness the way we do today

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (13) ◽  
pp. 6976-6984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E. LeDoux ◽  
Matthias Michel ◽  
Hakwan Lau
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Consciousness Studies ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain ◽  
The Way

Consciousness is currently a thriving area of research in psychology and neuroscience. While this is often attributed to events that took place in the early 1990s, consciousness studies today are a continuation of research that started in the late 19th century and that continued throughout the 20th century. From the beginning, the effort built on studies of animals to reveal basic principles of brain organization and function, and of human patients to gain clues about consciousness itself. Particularly important and our focus here is research in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s involving three groups of patients—amnesia, split brain, and blindsight. Across all three groups, a similar pattern of results was found—the patients could respond appropriately to stimuli that they denied seeing (or in the case of amnesiacs, having seen before). These studies paved the way for the current wave of research on consciousness. The field is, in fact, still grappling with the implications of the findings showing that the ability to consciously know and report the identity of a visual stimulus can be dissociated in the brain from the mechanisms that underlie the ability to behave in a meaningful way to the same stimulus.

Landmarks in the anterior central nervous system of amphioxus larvae

1994 ◽  
Vol 344 (1308) ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nerve Cord ◽  
Anterior Part ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Lamellar Body ◽  
Vertebrate Brain ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Dimensional Reconstruction ◽  
Neural Canal ◽  
Nerve Tracts

The anterior end of the dorsal nerve cord of amphioxus is described at the 3-4 gill slit stage based on serial transmission electron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction, with special attention to structures that are potential landmarks for comparing amphioxus with other chordates. The larval nerve cord is divisible, at approximately the level of the first somite, into a short anterior region, the cerebral vesicle (c.v.), and an extended posterior region that is thought to include homologues of the vertebrate hindbrain and spinal cord. The c.v., in turn, has an anterior part with a tubular neural canal and a posterior part with a keyhole-shaped neural canal similar to that found in the rest of the cord. The junction between these two parts of the c.v. is marked by a cluster of infundibular cells. The anterior c.v., whose cells have cilia that point anteriorly, includes (i) a structure we call the frontal eye, consisting of a pigment spot and transverse rows of putative receptor and nerve cells, and (ii) several small ventral commissures bridging the major nerve tracts that run ventrolaterally along either side of the nerve cord. The posterior c.v., in contrast, contains cells whose cilia point posteriorly, and includes (i) the beginnings of the floorplate, which continues posteriorly through the rest of the nerve cord, (ii) the dorsal lamellar body, made up of cells with cilia that expand into flattened lamellae, and (iii) a large ventral commissure that incorporates fibres arising from cells of the lamellar body. Where probable homologues of c.v. structures can be identified in vertebrate brain, they are found in the diencephalon, which suggests the c.v. and the vertebrate diencephalon are, to a degree, homologous.

Toward a neuroscope: An application of high-performance computing for real-time evaluation of brain function using MRI

1994 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 922-923
Author(s):  
C. S. Potter ◽  
C. D. Gregory ◽  
H. D. Morris ◽  
Z.-P. Liang ◽  
P. C. Lauterbur
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Complex Signal ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Cognitive Studies ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Imaging And Spectroscopy ◽  
3D Anatomy

Over the past few years, several laboratories have demonstrated that changes in local neuronal activity associated with human brain function can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. Using these methods, the effects of sensory and motor stimulation have been observed and cognitive studies have begun. These new methods promise to make possible even more rapid and extensive studies of brain organization and responses than those now in use, such as positron emission tomography.Human brain studies are enormously complex. Signal changes on the order of a few percent must be detected against the background of the complex 3D anatomy of the human brain. Today, most functional MR experiments are performed using several 2D slice images acquired at each time step or stimulation condition of the experimental protocol. It is generally believed that true 3D experiments must be performed for many cognitive experiments. To provide adequate resolution, this requires that data must be acquired faster and/or more efficiently to support 3D functional analysis.

Current Issues: Evidence-Based Practice for the Real World: Thoughts on Clinical Education in Communication Disorders

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne K. Bothe
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
Evidence Based Practice ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
University Faculty ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
The Real ◽  
Language Pathology

This article presents some streamlined and intentionally oversimplified ideas about educating future communication disorders professionals to use some of the most basic principles of evidence-based practice. Working from a popular five-step approach, modifications are suggested that may make the ideas more accessible, and therefore more useful, for university faculty, other supervisors, and future professionals in speech-language pathology, audiology, and related fields.

Brain organization for language: It's all in the network(s)

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Chiarello ◽  
Richard L. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Brain Organization

Basic Ideas and Principles for Quantifying Regional Blood Flow with Nuclear Medical Techniques

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (05) ◽  
pp. 181-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Nuclear Medicine ◽  
Regional Blood Flow ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Regional Cerebral Blood ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Parametric Images ◽  
Major Application ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
The Brain

SummaryThe measurement of blood flow in various organs and its visual presentation in parametric images is a major application in nuclear medicine. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the most important nuclear medicine procedures used to quantify regional blood flow. Starting with the first concepts introduced by Fick and later by Kety-Schmidt the basic principles of measuring global and regional cerebral blood are discussed and their relationships are explained. Different applications and modifications realized first in PET- and later in SPECT-studies of the brain and other organs are described. The permeability and the extraction of the different radiopharmaceuticals are considered. Finally some important instrumental implications are compared.

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