Neuroscience Lecture 1 & 2 Overview

Lecture 1: History and Intro to Neurons

• Definitions: Trephination, ventricles, phrenology, equipotentiality, Golgi staining, synapse, nucleus, ribosomes, Cell Theory, Neuron Doctrine

• Neurons: Axon, dendrite, soma, synaptic terminal

• Law of Dynamic Polarization: Be able to describe, define, and/or differentiate

• Aristotle vs. Hippocrates: View of brain's purpose

• Axon, Dendrite, Soma, Axon Terminal: Function

• Presynaptic vs. Postsynaptic Neuron: Distinction

• Neurons vs. Glial Cells: Sensory, Motor, Interneurons

• Modern Neuroscience: Combination of Phrenology and Equipotentiality

• Ramon y Cajal: Contribution to Neuroscience and Neuron Doctrine, Law of Dynamic Polarization

• Neuron Parts: Functional boundaries and what they do

Lecture 2: Cell Biology of Neurons

• Definitions: Nucleus, ER, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria, cytoskeleton, plasma membrane, genotype, phenotype

• Concepts: Describe, define, and/or differentiate Kinesis vs. dynein motor proteins, anterograde vs. retrograde transport, condensation reaction to form polypeptides. Protein structure levels and protein characteristics/amino acids

• Proteins: How proteins are made start to finish, defining characteristics, and levels of structure

• Plasma Membrane: Properties, including hydrophobic vs. hydrophilic, diffusion, active vs. passive transport, endocytosis, exocytosis

Lecture 3: Membrane Potentials

• Definitions: Selectively Permeable, Electrochemical Gradient, Ohm's Law, Nernst Equation, Goldman Equation, Conductance, Equilibrium potential, Membrane potential, Current, Na+/K+ Pump, Leak Channels

• Concepts: Describe, define, and/or differentiate ion concentrations inside vs. outside the neuron, current vs. membrane potential, equilibrium potential vs. resting membrane potential, concentration vs. electrical gradient, ionic basis of the resting membrane potential, and how changing ion concentrations or conductance affect resting Vm.

Lecture 4: Action Potentials

• Definitions: Action Potential (AP), rising phase, falling phase, repolarization, undershoot, refractory period, threshold, tetrodotoxin (TTX)

• Concepts: Describe, define, and/or differentiate depolarization vs. hyperpolarization, voltage-gated vs. ligand-gated vs. leak channels. Voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels kinetics, Positive feedback loops in an AP, how positive feedback loops are interrupted, ionic basis of the action potential, how channels/events/ions work during an AP, voltage-gated ion channel function during the AP, two events causing membrane repolarization, and the effects of ion channel blockers on the AP or currents).

Lecture 5: AP Conduction

• Definitions: Conduction Velocity, Membrane resistance, Membrane capacitance, Internal Resistance, Myelination, Nodes of Ranvier, Saltatory Conduction, CNS, Blood Brain Barrier, White Matter, Grey Matter, Optic Nerve, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

• Concepts: Define, describe, and differentiate invertebrate vs. vertebrate solutions for increasing AP conduction, relative conduction speed of unmyelinated vs. myelinated axons, location of sodium channels vs. potassium channels in myelinated axons, Astrocytes vs. Schwann Cells, and how myelination speeds up the action potential

Lecture 6: Synaptic Transmission

• Definitions: Affinity, potency, agonist, antagonist, ligand, exogenous, endogenous, neurotransmitter, neuromuscular junction, synaptic vesicle, SNARE complex, acetylcholinesterase, acetylcholine receptor, GABA receptor

• Concepts: Define, describe, and differentiate local vs. long-distance signaling, agonist vs. antagonist, endogenous vs. exogenous ligands, excitatory vs. inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, locations of excitatory vs. inhibitory synapses, spatial vs. temporal summation, postsynaptic potentials vs. action potentials

Lecture 7: Learning and Memory

• Definitions: Learning, Memory, Classical conditioning, Conditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Stimulus, Hippocampal Place Cells, Hebb's Postulate, Magnesium Block, Glutamate Receptor

• Concepts: Describe, define, and/or differentiate procedural vs. declarative memory, conditioned vs. unconditioned stimulus, synaptic depression vs. facilitation, sensitization vs. habituation, hippocampus of taxi vs. bus drivers, AMPA vs. NMDA receptors, LTP vs. LTD, taxi driving experience effects on brain structure, NMDA receptor activation effects, how frequency stimulation effects postsynaptic neuron, spatial learning assays in rats, water maze vs. radial arm maze and neuroanatomy terms for memory formation/storage (locate and describe function)

Lecture 8: Epilepsy and Memory Loss

• Definitions: Epilepsy, Seizures, EEG recording, Korsakoff's syndrome, Confabulation, Neural plasticity

• Concepts: Ability to differentiate partial vs. generalized seizures, anterograde vs. retrograde amnesia, sensory vs. short-term vs. long-term memory, explicit vs. implicit memory, semantic vs. episodic vs. procedural memory, memory consolidation vs. memory storage, Basal ganglia vs. hippocampus for memory formation, striatum and basal ganglia, habit forming, Parkinson's, Huntington’s, Hippocampus for declarative memory, H.M's seizure/memory symptoms, brain areas removed during H.M. surgery, neural mechanisms underlying memory formation, and effects of enriched environments on neural structures.