From Neuron to Brain by John G. Nicholls, A. Robert Martin, Paul A. Fuchs, David A. Brown, Mathew E. Diamond

From Neuron to Brain John G. Nicholls, A. Robert Martin, Paul A. Fuchs, David A. Brown, Mathew E. Diamond ebook
Format: pdf
Page: 580
Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Incorporated
ISBN: 9780878936090

Dopamine is a critical chemical messenger in the brain that affects a person's ability to direct his movements. In Parkinson's disease, the neurons that release dopamine die, causing movement to become more and more difficult. Research published in the journal Neuron shows that NMDA receptors on dopamine neurons in the brain's basal ganglia are essential to habit formation. A little neuroscience 101 here: neurons are the basic cellular building blocks of the brain. Pass by your rose bush on the way to the car, another specific neuron fires. What is the architecture of the baby's brain like? Each neuron receives impulses, through tiny hair-like structures called dendrites. This breakthrough could allow for improved drug testing — and even a "periodic table" of neurons in the brain to explain what each of them does and how they interact. Cortical neuronal cell cultures were freshly prepared from embryonic 14-16 day-old mouse brains. The recent literature on whether patterns of activity in the hippocampus are predetermined and hard-wired. Take one step out the front door, and an individual brain cell fires. The entire study can be read at Nature. The brain is full of special cells, called neurons.