Neurobiology 1100-3BN21

1. Introduction. A brief history of neuroscience - from 4000 BC till present times.
2. Brain cells – neurons and glia. Membrane potential. Experimental methods.
3. Electrical and chemical forces, Nernst and Goldman equation, equivalent circuit of the neuronal membrane.
4. Action potential, threshold phenomena, Hodgkin i Huxley model, ionic currents. Expanded version of the single equivalent circuit.
5. Conduction of action potential. Cable theory.
6. The synapse. Chemical synapses and gap junctions. Neuromuscular junction. The quantal hypothesis.
7. Synaptic integration. The solution to the cable equation. Rall’s theory. Computational properties of dendrites.
8. Sensory modalities – sensory receptors, sensory transduction, stimulus encoding. Hierarchical sensory information processing. Lateral inhibition. Predictive coding. Gestalt theory.
9. Chemical senses – the taste system. Taste receptors. Taste pathways. Molecular gastronomy.
10. The dual olfactory system, olfactory receptors, smell images. Mammalian olfactory system. Pheromones.
11. The somatic senses, skin receptors.
12. Spinal cord circuits. Gate control theory of pain. Topographical representation, cortical areas, plasticity of cortical maps. Muscle sense and kinesthesia. Muscle and joint receptors.
13. The sense of balance. The vestibular organ, hair cells, Meniere’s syndrome. Vestibulo-ocular reflex.
14. Hearing – hearing ranges, the ear, air/ear impedance, sound intensity and sound pressure level. Functional organization of the ear. Resonance theory of hearing, traveling wave theory, present view, cochlear amplifier. Auditory pathways, sound localization. Auditory cortex – tonotopic representation.
15. Vision – the electromagnetic spectrum, photoreceptors – rods and cones, retinal circuits, color vision, daylight and night vision. Cortical columns. Visual pathways. Neural correlates of consciousness.
16. Motor activity. Reflexes. Locomotion. Central pattern generators. Gaits and step cycles. Motor organization – brainstem centers, basal ganglia, cerebellum, motor cortex. Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Voluntary movements. Movement planning. Pre-motor areas. Mirror cells.
17. Central systems. Specific transmitter systems, psychoactive substances and antidepressants.
18. Emotion. The Papez and MacLean circuits for emotions. The amygdala – role in anxiety and pain. Facial expression.
19. Learning and memory. Habituation, sensitization, conditioning. Aversion learning, imprinting, latent learning, vicarious learning. Hebb’s rule. Short- and long-term memory.

Student's workload:

30h - attending the lectures - 1 ECTS

15h - preparations for the lectures - 0,5 ECTS

45h - preparations for the exam - 1.5 ECTS

Total: 3 ECTS