Cortex, limbic etc

Editor's Notes

• #8: Mention angular gyrus - dyslexia
• #12: PET scan (vanders)
• #13: * Berne p209-210
• #26: 1. The prefrontal cortex and other areas of association cortex provide the limbic system with information based on previous learning and currently perceived needs. Inputs from the brainstem provide visceral and somatic sensory signals, including tactile, pressure, pain, and temperature information from the skin and sexual organs and pain information from the visceral organs. 2. the brainstem has reciprocal connections with the hypothalamus (see Fig. 7.11). As noted above, all ascending sensory systems in the brainstem send axon collaterals to the reticular formation which, in turn, innervates the limbic system, particularly via monoaminergic pathways. The reticular formation also forms the ascending reticular activating system, which serves not only to arouse the cortex but also to impart an emotional tone to the sensory information transmitted nonspecifically to the cerebral cortex.
• #30: *Classically, the hypothalamus has been considered a grouping of regulatory centers governing homeostasis. With respect to eating, the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus was thought to serve as a satiety center and the lateral hypothalamic area as a feeding center. Together, these areas would then coordinate the processes that govern eating behavior and the subjective perception of satiety. These hypothalamic areas also influence the secretion of hormones, particularly from the thyroid gland, adrenal gland, and pancreatic islet cells, in response to changing metabolic demands. Although crude lesion and stimulation studies supported the satiety versus feeding center model of the regulation of feeding, this simplistic model is no longer tenable.
• #31: Propriomelanocortin (POMC) Several orexigenic (stimulating appetite) and anorexigenic (causing loss of appetite) peptides and neurotransmitters contribute to the regulation of energy balance (Table 7.1). Some, such as leptin and insulin, act on a long time course to maintain body weight and blood glucose levels, and others, such as cholecystokinin (CCK) and ghrelin, act on a shorter time course to regulate initiation or cessation of a meal. Many of these signals are detected in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of the hypothalamus, some by directly bathing ARC neurons and others by relaying through vagal inputs to the hypothalamus (Fig. 7.3). Within the ARC, two groups of neurons are critical. One group expresses neuropeptide Y (NPY); activation of these neurons causes increased food intake and decreased energy expenditure. The other group expresses P.125 pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), which is a precursor for melanocortin peptides; activation of these neurons causes decreased food intake and increased energy expenditure. Outputs from the ARC that mediate alterations in feeding or energy expenditure include projections to the lateral hypothalamus, dorsomedial nucleus, and paraventricular nucleus, as well as a variety of structures in the brainstem and forebrain limbic system involved in motivated behavior (see Fig. 7.3). Direct output to parasympathetic and sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the brainstem and spinal cord derives from the paraventricular nucleus and the ARC. The paraventricular nucleus engages the endocrine system through its regulation of the pituitary gland.
• #32: *At a critical period in fetal development, circulating testosterone secreted by the testes of a male fetus changes the characteristics of cells in the preoptic area that are destined later in life to secrete GnRH. These cells, which would secrete GnRH cyclically at puberty had they not been exposed to androgens prenatally, are transformed into cells that secrete GnRH continually at a homeostatically regulated level. As a result, males exhibit a steady-state secretion rate for gonadotropic hormones and, consequently, for testosterone (see Chapter 36). In the absence of androgens in fetal blood during development, the preoptic area remains unchanged, so that at puberty the GnRH-secreting cells begin to secrete in a cyclic pattern. This pattern is reinforced and synchronized throughout female reproductive life by the cyclic feedback of ovarian steroids, estradiol and progesterone, on secretion of GnRH by the hypothalamus during the menstrual cycle (see Chapter 37). Steroid levels during prenatal and postnatal development are known to mediate differentiation of sexually dimorphic regions of the brain of most vertebrate species. Sexually dimorphic brain anatomy, behavior, and susceptibility to neurological and psychiatric illness are evident in humans. **http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexually_dimorphic_nucleus
• #42: New rhordes: The brainstem contains anatomic groupings of cell bodies clearly identified as the nuclei of cranial sensory and motor nerves or as relay cells of ascending sensory or descending motor systems. The remaining cell groups of the brainstem, located in the central core, constitute a diffuse-appearing system of neurons with widely branching axons, known as the reticular formation. Neurons in the reticular formation serve many functions, including regulation of the sleep/wake cycle, modulation of pain, and regulation of muscle tone.
• #44: Purpose of sleep – unknown !!! (berne)
• #45: EEG recordings of sleeping subjects in laboratory settings reveal that the brain's electrical activity varies as the subject passes through cycles of slow-wave sleep, then REM sleep, on through the night. A normal sleep cycle begins with slow-wave sleep, four stages of increasingly deep sleep during which the EEG becomes progressively slower in frequency and higher in amplitude. Stage 4 is reached at the end of about an hour, when delta waves are observed (see Fig. 7.7). The subject then passes through the same stages in reverse order, approaching stage 1 by about 90 minutes, when a REM period begins, followed by a new cycle of slow-wave sleep. Slow-wave sleep is characterized by decreased heart rate and blood pressure, slow and regular breathing, and relaxed muscle tone. Stages 3 and 4 occur only in the first few sleep cycles of the night. In contrast, REM periods increase in duration with each successive cycle, so that the last few cycles consist of approximately equal periods of REM sleep and stage 2 slow-wave sleep.
• #46: to determine whether erectile failure is based on a neurological or a vascular defect (in which case, erection does not accompany REM sleep).
• #47: *Many of us have experienced this muscle paralysis on waking from a bad dream, feeling momentarily incapable of running from danger. In certain sleep disorders in which skeletal muscle contraction is not temporarily paralyzed in REM sleep, subjects act out dream sequences with disturbing results, with no conscious awareness of this happening.
• #52: Green trace (left) tonic phase grand mal; (right) clonic phase grand mal Psychomotor is a form of focal epilepsy