History of Neuroscience, February 1
- Lauren Pearson
- Feb 19, 2022
- 2 min read
Burke Neurological Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine
Written By: Lauren Pearson
Welcome to my first post regarding the content that I have learned through participating in this course, as a disclaimer I will not be showing any direct content or recordings due to privacy reasons.
All of the topics discussed are based on personal notes that I took throughout the session.
Neuroscience is a vast field with various opportunities for development and growth, this course offers the chance to introduce teens like myself to these challenging yet fascinating topics.
At the beginning of the lesson, we were introduced to a common yet historic technique of neurosurgery. This was known as trepanation.
Trepanation is a surgical technique birthed in the Mesolithic period (around 6000 B.C). This course of treatment could be used to alleviate pain due to a result of head traumas. Trepanation can also be used to remove cerebral spinal fluid to reduce areas of intracranial pressure.
Hellenistic medicine was dedicated to Temples, the healer-god and Asclepius known as Asclepieia which functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing.
The humoral theory states that good health comes from the perfect balance of the four humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.
Try to build the connection between form and function
Image Credit: Figure 3. Illustration of the humoral pathology theory
This started to spark the interest of finding further inquiry regarding the nervous system. The brain is a mechanical device, a structure with different values all of the utmost importance.
Luigi Galvani (1544-1603) discovered the electrical system within the neurological organ system.
How does a doctrine differ from a theory?
A doctrine is known to be far more entrenched and is regarded as some type of dogma (theological/evangelical ideology). Whereas a theory is based more on quantitative evidence-based.
Nerves AS wires
Look at the effects of the injuries (legion dorsal versus ventral routes). Muscle movement is lost but you can still find sensation among the nerves. Motor movement control centralized (recovery after stroke in connection to neuroplasticity).
In history, we have gone from how does the brain look to how does the brain function.
Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934), the father of Neuroscience depicted the first nerve cell through this sense of understanding. This now gave us the ability to find the fundamental center (or a computational unit).
Burke Neurological Institute is interested in spinal cord injury/brain injury as the brain is the most complex computational organism on the planet.
Researchers often study:
What happens when things go wrong
What happens during mental disorders
Addresses through basic research (translational research/bridging the gap to hopefully develop therapeutics) clinical research
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Lauren
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