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In the mid-sixties, the discovery by Altman and co-workers of neurogenesis in the adult brain changed the previous conception of the immutability of this organ during adulthood sustained among others by Cajal. This discovery was ignored up to eighty’s when Nottebohm demonstrated neurogenesis in birds. Subsequently, two main neurogenic zones were characterized: the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricle and the subgranular layer of the dentate gyrus. Half century later, the exact role of new neurons in the adult brain is not completely understand. This book is composed by a number of articles by leaders in the filed covering from an historic perspective to potential therapeutic opportunities.
Apoptosis is the regulated form of cell death. It is a complex process defined by a set of characteristic morphological and biochemical features that involves the active participation of affected cells in a self-destruction cascade. This title looks at research into this programmed cell death.
The hypothalamus is the region of the brain in charge of the maintenance of the internal milieu of the organism. It is also essential to orchestrate reproductive, parental, aggressive-defensive, and other social behaviors, and for the expression of emotions. Due to the structural complexity of the hypothalamus, however, many basic aspects of its ontogenesis are still mysterious. Nowadays we assist to a renewal of interest spurred in part by the growing realization that prenatal and early postnatal influences on the hypothalamus could entail pathological conditions later in life. Intriguing questions for the future include: do early specification phenomena reflect on adult hypothalamic functi...
Stroke remains one of the most devastating diseases in industrialized countries. Recanalization of the occluded arterial vessel using thrombolysis is the only causal therapy available. However, thrombolysis is limited due to severe side effects and a limited time window. As such, only a minority of patients receives this kind of therapy, showing a need for new and innovative treatment strategies. Although neuroprotective drugs have been shown to be beneficial in a variety of experimental stroke models, they ultimately failed in clinical trials. Consequently, recent scientific focus has been put on modulation of post-ischemic neuroregeneration, either via stimulation of endogenous neurogenesi...
Neurogenesis, or the birth of new neuronal cells, was thought to occur only in developing organisms. However, recent research has demonstrated that neurogenesis does indeed continue into and throughout adult life. On going neurogenesis is thought to be an important mechanism underlying neuronal plasticity, enabling organisms to adapt to environmental changes and influencing learning and memory throughout life. A number of different factors that regulate neurogenesis have been identified. Physicial activity and environmental conditions have been known to affect proliferation and survival of neurons. Hormones have also been found to influence the rate of neurogenesis in vertebrates (e.g. testosterone) and invertebrates (eg: ecdysone). Serotonin is believed to play a key role in neurogenesis.
The human brain is extraordinary complex and yet its origin is a simple tubular structure. Rapid and dramatic structural growth takes place during the fetal and perinatal period. By the time of birth, a repertoire of major cortical, subcortical and white matter structures resembling the adult pattern has emerged, however there are continued maturational changes of the gray matter and white matter throughout childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. The maturation of neuronal structures provides the neuroanatomical basis for the acquisition and refinement of cognitive functions during postnatal development. Histological imaging has been traditionally dominant in understanding neuroanatomy...
This eBook comprises s series of original research and review articles dealing with the anatomical, genetic, and physiological organization of the auditory system from humans to monkeys and mice.
Supercomputing facilities are becoming increasingly available for simulating activity dynamics in large-scale neuronal networks. On today's most advanced supercomputers, networks with up to a billion of neurons can be readily simulated. However, building biologically realistic, full-scale brain models requires more than just a huge number of neurons. In addition to network size, the detailed local and global anatomy of neuronal connections is of crucial importance. Moreover, anatomical connectivity is not fixed, but can rewire throughout life (structural plasticity)—an aspect that is missing in most current network models, in which plasticity is confined to changes in synaptic strength (sy...
Although somewhat marginal in relation to the other senses, smell is the most potent way of anchoring ourselves to the world. We subconsciously find our place in it by sniffing our body, the body of the one next to us, the room in which we are, the culture with which we are familiar. There is an incessant olfactory flow consisting of bodies, human and nonhuman, that are agents of generation, consumption, diffusion, reproduction and dissolution of odours. As they move or pause, as they cluster with others or try to move away, these bodies constantly partake in this olfactory flow, this dense planetary swirl that leaves nothing outside. The law aims at presenting itself as rational and objecti...