Biological Sciences
BIO 404: Neurobiology (DE, Credit, 4)
Course Content:
- Structural Neuroanatomy:Brodmann classification of Cortical, cytoarchitecture; structural architecture of hippocampus, Peripheral Nervous System, Cranial nerves: Nuclei, functional components and distribution of cranial nerves. Cerebrum: External features, functional areas of cerebral cortex. White matter of cerebrum: Types of fibres: Fiber connectivity, Projection Tracts, Commissural Tracts and Association Tracts, Internal capsule. Ventricular system: Parts and Boundaries of lateral, third ventricles. Circulation and formation of cerebrospinal fluid. Choroid plexus and fissure. Diencephalon Thalamus: External features, internal structure, connections. Basal ganglia: Nuclei, Limbic system: Components, connection, functions. Blood supply of brain, Blood brain barrier.
- Neurons and glia:Cajal & Golgi and the history of neuron, The neuron doctrine and the reticular theory, Types of neurons, structure and function. Pyramidal Neurons, Mossy Fibers, Stellate Neurons, Types of glial cells and function, Myelin sheath.
- Functional Neuroanatomy:Introduction to various terminologies with reference to the CNS (Brief), Anatomical localization of various functional regions, Resting state brain Activity (focused on default mode netrwork), Choroid plexus and CSF composition, Homunculus (Sensory and Motor) v),Speech and associated areas (Broca's and Wernicke's)
- Neurotransmitters and Neurotransmission:Transporters and Receptors. Ion Channels, Ionic potentials, depolarization. Excitatory and Inhibitory Synapses Excitatory Receptors: NMDARs, AMPA. Metabotropic. GABAa and GABAb receptors.
- General Principles of Sensory Systems:Transduction, Sensory encoding, Neural pathways, Receptive fields, Topographic maps. Touch - Different kinds of receptors, Receptive field, Response properties, Innervation.
- Introductory Computational Methods to study Brain Signals:Determining brain structure and volume, Basics of Machine Learning methods in Brain Health, Feature Extraction Methods, Predictive algorithms, EEG and MRI data reading.
Suggested Books:
- Neuroscience, edited by Purves, Augustine, Fitzpatrick, Hall, LaMantia, Mooney, Platt and White. Sinauer (2018) Sixth Edition.
- Neuroscience: exploring the brain. Bear, M., Connors, B.W. and Paradiso, M.A. 3rd edition Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins (2001).
- Principles of Neural Science by Kandel.
- Development of the Nervous System by Sanes (few chapters).
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