PRINCIPLES OF

NEUROBIOLOGY

BIO/CMM-3350

Tuan Bui (tuan.bui@uottawa.ca)

613-562-5800 ext. 7888
GNN 285
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 COURSE SYLLABUS (ON BRIGHTSPACE)

1. Lectures:
Tuesday 8:30 - 10:00
Friday 10:00 - 11:30

2. Human neuroanatomy laboratory (optional):

Date: TBD (approx. early April)

3. Examinations:
A. Mid-term 1 (Friday, Feb 1) 25% – Covers lectures 1-6
B. Mid-term 1I (Friday, March 8) 30% – Covers lectures 7-13
C. Final exam 45% – Not cumulative, covers remaining lectures

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 COURSE SYLLABUS
4. Make-up exam policy:
• Your absence at a mid-term exam will only be accepted for medical reasons where
a note from a doctor can be provided. Note that if you miss both mid-terms, you
will have no provisional mark before the deadline for course withdrawal
• If you miss a mid-term exam, the value of your final exam will go up by 25 or 30%
depending on which mid-term you missed. For those who miss a mid-term exam
for medical reasons, the material covered on the mid-term exam that you missed
will be covered on your copy of the final exam. For example, if you miss mid-term
exam 2, your copy of the final exam will cover all the material covered for the final
exam AND the material covered on mid-term exam 2. ALLfinal exams are
written at the same time and those who are writing final exams that cover material
covered on missed mid-terms will NOT have extra time to write their final exam.
• Finally, for those who do write both exams and the final exam at the scheduled
time in April, the value of your final exam can be increased or decreased by 10%
and the value of one of your mid-term exam can be decreased or increased by
10% in accordance such that your final mark is out of 100%. The determination of
how to adjust the weight of your final exam and of a mid-term exam is done by the
instructor such that your final mark is optimized. This calculation is only performed
for those who write both mid-term exams without exception.

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 CHAPTER 1:
NEUROSCIENCES, PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
• Origin of the neurosciences
• Egypt, Greece, Rome
• From the Renaissance to the XIXth century
• Localization of function
• Neurons and synapses
• Neurosciences today

• Readings
• Bear, chapter 1

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http://brain-map.org/
 ORIGINS OF NEUROSCIENCES

• Origins of the neurosciences

• Prehistoric ancestors and Ancient Egypt
• Views of Ancient Greeks: Hippocrates
• Views of Ancient Rome: Galen

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 ORIGINS OF NEUROSCIENCES

• Prehistoric Ancestors:
• Brain is vital for life

• Cranial surgeries:
• Proof: Trepanation
• Skulls showed signs of healing

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 ORIGINS OF NEUROSCIENCES

• Views of ancient Egypt:

• Heart: seat of the soul (conscience and emotions) and of memory
• Not the head: the brain was removed during mummification
• Brain lipids did not conserve well and dissolved readily
in the natron used for mummification

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 VIEWS OF ANCIENT GREECE
• Hippocrates (-460 - -370)
• Correlation between structure and function
• Rejected superstitions and beliefs as causes for disease

• Theories of bodily humours (fluids)… stirred by the heart

• Disease = imbalance of the humours
• Blood (warm humour)
• Heart; jovial and warm character
• « Pituiary » (lymph, phlegm)
• Brain; stolid character
• Yellow bile
• Liver; anxious character
• «Black Bile » (Black bile, cold and dry!)
• Spleen; melancolic character

HIPPOCRATES
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 VIEWS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

• Dissections of human cadavers were forbidden

• Galen was a physician for gladiators
• Physician of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus
• Allowed to perform animal experimentation
• Explored the roles of the brain, cerebellum, and ventricles GALEN
(129-approx. 200)

Hard, so controls
Soft, so for muscles
sensations

Sheep brain 10
 VIEWS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

• Ventricles
• Contains the 4 humours,
whose flow registers
sensations and initiates
GALEN
muscle movements.
Nerves are conduits for
the humours

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 VIEWS OF THE RENAISSANCE

• In the Middle Ages,Vesalius performed

dissections of human cadevers (1514-1564)
• Fluid-mechanical theory of brain function
• Animal spirits moved in the ventricles

Vesalius

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 VIEWS OF THE RENAISSANCE

• Philosophical mind-brain problem

• Divine mind
• Material brain
• Solved by René Descartes (1596-1650)
• The pineal gland is the seat of the soul René Descartes

• « Cogito ergo sum »

• (I think therefore I am)

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 VIEWS OF THE XVITH ET XVIITH
CENTURIES
• Description of nerves
• Discarding spirit-animals theories
• Nerves are not tubes

• Distinction between gray and white matter

• White matter is in continuity with
nerves. Therefore, white matter
contains fibers that shuttles
information to or from the gray
matter

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 VIEWS OF THE RENAISSANCE TO THE
XIXTH CENTURY

• Anatomical description of gyri,

sulci, and fissures

• Therefore, we went from a

bipartite brain (Galen) to the
XIXth century when the brain
was thought of as being
composed of 5 parts.

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 VIEWS OF THE XIXTH CENTURY

• Central divisions :
• Central nervous system (CNS)
• Brain
• Spinal cord

• Peripheral divisions
• Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
• Cranial nerves
• Spinal nerves

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 VIEWS OF THE XIXTH CENTURY: ELECTRIC
TRANSMISSION

• Nerves are cables capable of

transmitting electricity
• (Luigi Galvani 1737-1798 vs Volta
1745-1827)

• The nervous system can

generate electricity
• Similar to Leyden jar
• Similar to electric fish
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 VIEWS OF THE XIXTH CENTURY:
LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION
Which parts of the brain are involved with motor function?
Sensory function?

• Pierre Flourens (1794-1867)

• Experimental ablation method
• Rabbits
• Lesions followed by behavioural testing
• Cerebellum involved in motor coordination
• However, his ablations were too global!

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 VIEWS OF THE XIXTH CENTURY:
LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION
• Phrenology of Francis Gall (1758-1828)
• Bumps on the surface of skull reflect
brain surface and related personality
traits
• Based upon measurement of heads of
hundreds of different individuals
• Immensely popular (fairs, even
Sherlock Holmes!)

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 Views of the XIXth century: Localization
of function

• Broca’s area
• Paul Broca, physician (1824-1880)
• Observation of a patient having lost
the power of speech following an
accident to the head Central sulcus Paul Broca

• Autopsy and localisation of the

lesion
• In so doing, describes an area
important for speech (circled below)

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 Views of the XIXth century: Localization
of function
Motor Areas
• Motor areas
• Fritsch and Hitzig (dog)
• Electrical stimulation ->
movements
• Ferrier (monkey)
• Ablation -> paralysis

• Visual areas
• Munk (animals)
• Ablations of the occipital lobe:
vision loss
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 Views of the XIXth century: Localization of
function

• Phineas Gage
• Railroad foreman
• Accident with dynamite (1848)
• Iron rod travels through frontal lobe
• Destruction of frontal ventro-medial area
• Dramatic change in personality

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 Evolution of the nervous system
• Natural selection proposed by Darwin (1809-
1882)

• Diverse species have a common ancestor

• Nervous systems of different species may
share common mechanisms
Charles Darwin
• Rationale for “animal models”
• Ex: Transmission of action potentials first
studied in squid
• Ex: Studies of addiction using rats

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 Evolution of the nervous system

According to Darwin’s theory, certain regions of the brain would

have adapted to according to the adaptation of certain species to
their specific environment.

Specialized visual areas

of the monkey

Specialized whisker
areas (barrels) of the
rat

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 Neuron: basic unit
Cells vs. Reticular network

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 Neuron: basic unit

• Cellular theory of the

nervous system
• Concept of a basic unit:
the nervous cell

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Controversy of Neurons vs. Reticular
network

Camillo Golgi (1843-

1926)
• Invented a AgNO3 stain for the
brain
• 1/10 neurons completely stained
• Champion of the hypothesis of a
reticular network organization of
the nervous system where
everything is physically in continuity
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 Victory of Neurons over Reticule

Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934)

• Improved Golgi’s technique
• Drew the anatomy of a nerve cell
and championed the cellular
hypothesis of the nervous system
• Proposed chemical transmission
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 THE “SOUP VERSUS SPARK” CONTROVERSY
?

Fatt and Katz, J.Physiol 1952

• Eccles: synaptic stimulation is electrical

• Katz and co.: synaptic stimulation is chemical 29
 THE “SOUP VERSUS SPARK” CONTROVERSY

Fatt and Katz, J.Physiol 1952

• Resolved by discovery of
• Post-synaptic potentials
• Post-synaptic ligand-gated channels
• Explanation of synaptic transmission and quanta
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NEUROSCIENCE TODAY
NEUROSCIENCE TODAY
 NEUROSCIENCE TODAY
• Reductionist approach
• Levels of analysis:
• Molecular
• Cellular
• Systems (or network)
• Behavioural
• Cognitive

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 NEUROSCIENCE TODAY
Medical Specialists Associated with the Nervous System
Specialist Description
Neurologist Diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the nervous
system
Psychiatrist Diagnosis and treatment of disorders of mood and
personality
Neurosurgeon Surgery on the brain and the spinal cord
Neuropathologist Recognize the changes in nervous tissue that result
from disease

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Researchers in basic, fundamental neuroscience (For Your Information ONLY)
Type Description
Computational Uses mathematics and computers to contruct models of brain functions
Neuroscientist (Bui, S Chen, Longtin, Lewis, Naud, Sachs, Thivierge)
Developmental Analyzes the development and maturation of the brain (Akimenko, Béïque,
Neurobiologist Ekker, Kim, Lagace, Slack, Trudeau)
Molecular Neurobiologist Uses the genetic material of neurons to understand the structure and
function of brain molecules (HH Chen, Ekker, Kim, Lagace, Park,
Schlossmacher, Slack)
Neuroanatomist Studies the structure of the nervous system (Maler)
Neurochemist Studies the chemistry of the brain (Albert, Messier)
Neuroethologist Studies the neural basis of species-specific animal behaviors in natural
settings (Lewis, Maler, Naud)
Neuropharmacologist Examines the effects of drugs on the nervous system (Albert)
Neurophysiologist Measures the electrical activity of the nervous system (Béïque, Bui, S.
Chen, HH. Chen, Jonz, Lacoste, Lewis, Maler, Pamenter, Trudeau)
Psychobiologist Studies the biological basis of behavior (Ismail, Messier, Northoff)
Psychophysicist Quantitaively measures perceptual abilities (Ismail, Messier, Thivierge)
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 CONCLUDING REMARKS
• Goal of neuroscience:
• To learn how the nervous system functions
• Brain’s activity reflected in behaviour
• Develop computer-assisted imaging techniques
• Non-invasive methods
• New treatments for nervous system disorders

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