Recommended Course Outline:

Week 1: Components of the Central Nervous System and Peripheral Nervous System, Anatomy of the Brain

Week 2: Common Neurologic Disorders/Diseases and specific characteristics of each

Week 3: Neuroimaging and Detection of Neurological diseases

Week 4: Myelination and Glial cells

Week 5: Laboratory Equipment and Techniques

 

Neuroscience is a broad field of study because it is the study of the nervous system.

The nervous system can be broken down into 2 parts: the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System.

  • The Central Nervous System is composed of the brain and spinal cord.
  • The Peripheral Nervous System is composed of nerves extending from the spinal cord.
  • The spinal cord is divided into 4 major parts: the cervical region, thoracic region, lumbar region, and sacral region
  • Basic working unit of the brain: neuron

NEURON

  • 100 billion present in the CNS
  • composed of the cell body, dendrite and axon
  • Cell body is composed of nucleus and cytoplasm
  • Synapse: contact point between two neurons
  • Axon length : generally 3 ft. to a fraction of an inch
  • Nerve impulses are created from the opening and closing of ion channels also known as selective permeability
  • Voltage changes trigger neurotransmitter release

NEUROTRANSMITTER

  • released by the synapse and stored in vacuoles
  • a single neuron is capable of creating different kinds of neurotransmitters
  • the first neurotransmitter discovered was Acetylcholine (Ach)