Molecular and Cellular Systems

This book contains a large collection of beautiful figures produced throughout the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, which represent some characteristic examples of the early days of research in neuroscience. The main aim of this work is to demonstrate to the general public that the study of the nervous system is not only important for the many obvious reasons related to brain function in both health and disease, but also for the unexpected natural beauty that it beholds. This beauty has been discovered thanks to the techniques used to visualize the microscopic structure of the brain, a true forest of colorful and florid neural cells. As illustrated by his marvelous drawings, the studies of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) no doubt contributed more than those of any other researcher at the time to the growth of modern neuroscience. Thus, his name has been honored in the title of this book, even though the figures contained in the main body of it are from 91 different authors. Looking at the illustrations in this book, the readers will find that many of the early researchers that studied the nervous system were also true artists, of considerable talent and esthetic sensibility. Hence, the present book contains numerous drawings of some of the most important pioneers in neuroscience, including Deiters, Kolliker, Meynert, Ranvier, Golgi, Retzius, Nissl, Dogiel, Alzheimer, del Rio-Hortega, and de Castro.

This book introduces the brain's remarkable capacity for memory. Like the first edition, this updated second edition begins with a history of memory research, starting with a ‘Golden Era’ at the turn of the 20th century, and progressing to our current understanding of the neurobiology of memory. Subsequent sections of the book discuss the cellular basis of memory, amnesia in humans and animals, the physiology of memory; declarative, procedural, and emotional memory systems; memory consolidation, and the control of memory by the prefrontal cortex. The book is organized into four sections, which highlight the major themes of the text. The first theme is connection, which considers how memory is fundamentally based on alterations in the connectivity of neurons. The first section of the book covers the most well studied models of cellular mechanisms of neural plasticity that may underlie memory. The second theme is cognition, which involves fundamental issues in the psychological structure of memory. This next section of the book considers the competition among views on the nature of cognitive processes that underlie memory, and tells how the controversy was eventually resolved. The third theme is compartmentalization, which is akin to the classic problem of memory localization. However, unlike localization, the notion of ‘compartments’ is intended to avoid the notion that particular memories are pigeon-holed into specific loci, and instead emphasize that different forms of memory are accomplished by distinct modules or brain systems. This third section of the book surveys the evidence for multiple memory systems, and outlines how they are mediated by different brain structures and systems. The fourth and final theme is consolidation, the process by which memories are transformed from a labile trace into a permanent store.

This book details the brain's remarkable capacity for memory. The book is organized into sections corresponding to its four major themes: Connection considers how memory is based on alterations to the communication between nerve cells. Cognition discusses the fundamental psychological structure of memory. Compartmentalization involved the notion that the different forms of memory are accomplished by distinct brain systems. Consolidation refers to processes by which memories are transformed from a labile trace into a permanent store. The book provides insights into how memory works and how it is fundamental to all aspects of cognition, behavior, and emotion.

This book explores whether the mental order corresponds to the order of structures, events, and processes in one part of the neural order, namely, the cerebral cortex. For clarity and simplicity, this means the search for a spatial and temporal order in the cerebral cortex that matches the cognitive order in every respect. A change or difference in the cortical order corresponds to a change or difference in the mental order. The principal aim of this book is to map cognitive networks onto cortical networks. It has implications for cognitive neuroscience, neurophysiology, neurobiology, neuroimaging, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, cognitive psychology, and linguistics. The book will also interest students in all the disciplines of neuroscience and can be used as a text or collateral reading in courses on systems neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, cognitive science, network modeling, physiological psychology, and linguistics.

The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary terms. It is fundamental to human behaviour, thinking, and self-understanding, and a study of its structure and performance must encompass aspects of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and neurology. This book provides an account of the structural and functional organisation of the cerebral cortex from the point of view of one of the pioneers in the field. It is a revised and updated translation of the original German text, and brings together the biological, psychological, and philosophical strands of enquiry relating to this area of the brain.

Looking beyond the classical “wiring-diagram” description of the organization of cortical cells into circuits, this book focuses on dynamic aspects of cerebral cortical physiology, both at the single-neuron and network levels. Recent years have seen a remarkable expansion of knowledge about the basic cellular physiology and molecular biology of cortical nerve cells—their membrane properties, their synaptic characteristics, their functional connectivity, their development, and the mechanisms of their response to injury. This book includes contributions by many of the neurobiologists and neurologists directly responsible for these advances. The four main sections of the book are: Cortical Neurons and Synapses, The Cortical Network, The Developing Cortical Neuron, and The Vulnerable Cortical Neuron. This is a balanced multidisciplinary perspective on the normal and pathological function of the cells of the cerebral cortex, identifying the controversies and critical issues facing modern researchers in this field.

This book reviews a number of clinical neuropsychiatric conditions in which brain oscillations play an essential role. It discusses how the intrinsic properties of neurons, and the interactions between neurons – mediated by both chemical synapses and by gap junctions – can lead to oscillations in populations of cells. The discussion is based largely on data derived from in vitro systems (hippocampus, cerebral and cerebellar cortex) and from network modeling. Finally, the book considers how brain oscillations can provide insight into normal brain function as well as pathophysiology.

Dendrites form the major receiving part of neurons. It is within these highly complex, branching structures that the real work of the nervous system takes place. The dendrites of neurons receive thousands of synaptic inputs from other neurons. However, dendrites do more than simply collect and funnel these signals to the soma and axon; they shape and integrate the inputs in complex ways. Despite being discovered over a century ago, dendrites received little research attention until the early 1950s. Over the past few years there has been a dramatic explosion of interest in the function of these beautiful structures. Recent new research has developed our understanding of the properties of dendrites, and their role in neuronal function. The first edition of this book was a landmark in the literature, stimulating and guiding further research. The new edition substantially updates the earlier volume, and includes five new chapters. It gathers new information on dendrites into a single volume, with contributions written by leading researchers in the field. The book presents a survey of the current state of our knowledge of dendrites, from their morphology and development through to their electrical, chemical, and computational properties.

The discovery of dopamine in 1957-8 was one of the seminal events in the development of modern neuroscience, and has been extremely important for the development of modern therapies of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dopamine has a fundamental role in almost all aspects of behavior — from motor control to mood regulation, cognition and addiction and reward — and dopamine research has been unique within the neurosciences in the way it has bridged basic science and clinical practice. Over the decades, research into the role of dopamine in health and disease has been at the forefront of modern neuroscience.

This book describes current information about the three areas mentioned in the title: neuronal migration and development, degenerative brain diseases, and neural plasticity and regeneration. The chapters in the first section of the book examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which neurons are generated from the ventricular zone in the forebrain and migrate to their destinations in the cerebral cortex. This description of cortical development also includes discussions of the Cajal-Retzius cell. Another chapter provides insight about the development of another forebrain region, the hypothalamus. The remaining chapters of the first section examine the clinical relevance of brain development in certain disease states in humans. The second section begins with details about the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia niger and their loss in Parkinson's disease. Two subsequent chapters describe changes in brain aging, including changes in the numbers of myelinated axons. Other chapters in this section describe important cellular and molecular changes found in Alzheimer's disease and human epilepsy. The last section begins with a chapter on how the brain's own stem cells provide newly generated neurons to the hippocampal dentate gyrus and how these neurons become integrated into neural circuitry. Then two chapters examine some of the neuroplastic changes that take place in motor and sensory cortices of awake behaving primates. The concluding two chapters address the issue of regeneration in the injured spinal cord and the factors that may contribute to its success.