INSC 593 Structural Neurobiology

Spring 2007

Course Director: Peter Crino M.D., Ph.D.

COURSE GOALS

(1) Learn the basic structural features of the vertebrate brain at several levels of scale: macroscopic (gross = major subdivisions, major connecting tracts), microscopic (histological organization of some regions of major current interest, e.g., hippocampus, and ultrastructural (structure of synapses, circuits).

(2) Learn to find your way around the brain using the various available maps (atlases) at the corresponding levels of scale: (MRI, LM, EM). This gets easy as you accomplish goal #1.

(3) Become proficient with light microscopy. LM is now a major tool, not only for structure, but also for studies of function. In fact, such distinctions are rapidly disappearing. Proficiency here involves: a) understanding enough of the technical issues that you can obtain optimal contrast and resolution; b) learning to "look" actively. This involves asking a few basic questions as you examine a tissue. It is another kind of learning how to find your way. We spend considerable time with modern versions of LM, including fluorescence, confocal, DIC, 2-Photon).

In short, you should leave this course with a certain competence in neuroanatomy (at all 3 scales), and with some competence as an investigator of "functional architecture". To these ends, it will help to consider one of the very biggest questions: Why aren't we smarter? There must be physical limits to our intelligence, and to identify these structural constraints would be to achieve some deep insight. Enough is known now about brain structure at the scales mentioned to at least raise working hypotheses.

Prerequisites: at least one course on the nervous system (or permission of the course director).

Schedule
1/19                 Course overview

1/11                 Overview of CNS

1/16                 Cerebral Cortex (Crino)

1/18                 Cerebral Cortex (Crino)

1/23                 Cerebral Cortex (Crino)

1/25                 CLASS CANCELLED

1/30                 Limbic System (Crino)

2/1                   Thalamus

2/6                   Thalamus (D. Contreras)

2/8                   Light Microscope (P. Haydon)

2/13                 Confocal Microscope (P.Haydon)                   

2/15                 Development                        

2/20                 Brain Development (J. Golden)

2/22                 Basal Ganglia (D. Lynch)

2/27                 Review

3/1                   MID-TERM EXAM

3/6                   Cerebellum

3/8                   Cerebellum

3/13                 Myelin and Schwann cells (Steve Scherer)

3/15                 NO CLASS

3/20                 Sheep brain Dissection

3/22                 Sheep brain Dissection

3/27                 Human Brain Dissection                       

3/29                 Human Brain Dissection

4/3                   Neuromuscular Junction (R. Balice-Gordon)                                        

4/5                   Hypothalamus (Lori Flanagan-Cato)

4/10                 Spinal Cord Spinal Cord

4/12                 Spinal Cord

4/17                 Cerebral Circulation                 

4/19                 C. elegans (D. Raizen)

4/24                 REVIEW        

4/26                 FINAL EXAM