Spontaneous Rem Behaviors in a Microcephalic Infant

1972 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Harmon ◽  
Robert N. Emde
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Limbic System ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Tentative Conclusion ◽  
Previous Evidence ◽  
Human Newborn ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Cerebral Structures

A microcephalic human newborn exhibited a repertoire of spontaneous REM behaviors, including REM smiling, at rates characteristic of a normal newborn comparison group. Cyclical alternations between behavioral REM and non-REM states were also documented. A detailed post-mortem examination supported an inference that this infant had severely impaired functioning of cerebral cortex and limbic system during its brief postuterine life. The findings support a tentative conclusion that the observed spontaneous REM behaviors are mediated through the brain stem and that cerebral structures, including the limbic system, are not necessary for this mediation. The findings are also consistent with previous evidence that the seat of organization of REM and non-REM sleep is in the brain stem.

Lantern Demonstration of Gross Lesions of the Cerebrum

1901 ◽  
Vol 47 (199) ◽  
pp. 729-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Shaw Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Dura Mater ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Mental Disease ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Pyramidal Layer ◽  
Gross Lesions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Morbid Conditions

This demonstration was a further report on the subject laid before the Association at the meeting at Claybury in February last, viz., the morbid changes occurring in the brain and other intra-cranial contents in amentia and dementia. In a paper read before the Royal Society in the spring of 1900, and subsequently published in the Philosophical Transactions, it was stated, as the result of a systematic micrometric examination of the visuo-sensory (primary visual) and visuo-psychic (lower associational) regions of the cerebral cortex, that the depth of the pyramidal layer of nerve-cells varies with the amentia or dementia existing in the patient. At the meeting of the Association referred to it was further shown, from an analysis, clinical and pathological, of 121 cases of insanity which appeared consecutively in the post-mortem room at Claybury, that the morbid conditions inside the skull-cap in insanity, viz., abnormalities in the dura mater, the pia arachnoid, the ependyma and intra-cranial fluid, etc., are the accompaniments of and vary in degree with dementia alone, and are independent of the duration of the mental disease. Since that date the pre-frontal (higher associational) region has been systematically examined in nineteen cases, viz., normal persons and normal aments (infants), and cases of amentia, of chronic and recurrent insanity without appreciable dementia, and of dementia, and the results obtained form the subject of the present demonstration. A paper on the whole subject will shortly be published in the Archives of the Claybury Laboratory.

Concepts, Conferences, and Controversies

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-31
Author(s):  
Alan J. McComas
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain

This chapter outlines the history of research meetings dealing with consciousness, beginning with that hosted by Herbert Jasper in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec in 1953. It starts, however, with a brief discussion on ancient scientific approaches to medicine, which was jump-started by the Greek physician, Hippocrates. Afterward, the chapter skips forward two millennia to major figures who made breakthroughs in the field of brain science. It also touches on a central debate that reached its climax a little later, as to which part of the brain was responsible for consciousness. The chapter considers whether it was the cerebral cortex, as had been the prevailing assumption, or if it was the brain stem.

scholarly journals Branching Thalamic Afferents Link Action and Perception

2003 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Guillery
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Visual Pathways ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Axonal Branching ◽  
Action And Perception ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Anatomical Evidence

Recent observations of single axons and review of older literature show that axons afferent to the thalamus commonly branch, sending one branch to the thalamus and another to a motor or premotor center of the brain stem. That is, the messages that the thalamus relays to the cerebral cortex can be regarded as copies of motor instructions. This pattern of axonal branching is reviewed, particularly for the somatosensory and the visual pathways. The extent to which this anatomical evidence relates to views that link action to perception is explored. Most pathways going through the thalamus to the cortex are already involved in motor mechanisms. These motor links occur before and during activity in the parallel and hierarchical corticocortical circuitry that currently forms the focus of many studies of perceptual processing.

scholarly journals I. A record of experiments upon the functions of the cerebral cortex

1887 ◽  
Vol 42 (251-257) ◽  
pp. 111-111
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Cerebral Hemispheres ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
Exact Condition ◽  
Cortex Cerebri ◽  
Motor Region ◽  
The Brain

The paper consists, as its title implies, of a record of experiments relating to the functions of the cerebral cortex, a subject upon which the authors have been engaged during three years. The experiments have been entirely made upon monkeys. After describing the methods employed, the general results of excitation and of extirpation of various parts of the cerebral hemispheres on one or both sides are given, and the cases in which the method of ablation has been employed are then recorded in detail, the symptoms observed during life and the condition of the brain after death being systematically noted. Each case is illustrated by one or more drawings, showing the exact condition of the brain post mortem . In some instances sections of the brain are also represented. The paper includes also a topographical plan of the excitable or motor region of the cortex cerebri .

Awaking the Cortex

2019 ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Alan J. McComas
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Reticular Formation ◽  
Cortical Excitability ◽  
Reticular Activating System ◽  
The Brain

This chapter tells the story of the discovery of the reticular activating system. At the same time, the chapter traces various attempts to address the larger question of “waking” the cortex and bringing it to a state of consciousness. It turns to two scientists, Horace Magoun and Giuseppe Moruzzi, both of whom conducted experiments to explore the possible effects on the cerebral cortex of stimulating the brain stem. Since the brain’s reticular formation ended just below the thalamus on either side, it was logical to see if it might alter cortical excitability. The chapter shows how Magoun and Moruzzi came to the conclusion that, through its action on the excitability of the cortex, the reticular formation could control the wakefulness of the brain.

Functional Localization in the Thalamus and Hypothalamus.∗

1936 ◽  
Vol 82 (337) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. E. Le Gros Clark
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Functional Localization ◽  
Cell Groups ◽  
Numerous Cell ◽  
Considerable Detail ◽  
Thalamic Region ◽  
The Brain

The sensory material which provides the essential data for conscious activity is conveyed to the higher functional levels of the brain by impulses which stream up the olfactory tracts, the optic tracts, and the tracts of the brain-stem and spinal cord. With the exception only of the olfactory impulses, all these sensory impulses are filtered through the thalamic region of the brain, or diencephalon, before they can be relayed to the cerebral cortex which forms the anatomical substratum of the more elaborate mental processes. It is an interesting fact that, while the functional localization in the cerebral cortex and the functional localization in regard to the numerous fibre tracts in the brain-stem and spinal cord have been established in quite considerable detail by anatomical, physiological and clinical studies extending over many years, the localization and the connections of the various relay mechanisms in the diencephalon still remain obscure. Since the nature of the sensory material which is delivered to the cerebral cortex depends ultimately on the influences and modifications which may be imposed on the afferent impulses during their passage through the diencephalon, it becomes a matter of extreme importance, from the point of view of the study of the physiology of sensation and of psychological interpretation of sensory experience, that attention should be concentrated on this diencephalic mechanism. The minute anatomy of the diencephalon has recently been worked out in great detail, and it is now the task of the anatomist, physiologist and clinician to discover the functional significance of the numerous cell groups and fibre tracts which have been defined.

scholarly journals Projections from vasopressin, oxytocin, and neurophysin neurons to neural targets in the rat and human.

1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 475-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
M V Sofroniew
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus ◽  
Limbic System ◽  
Immunoperoxidase Method ◽  
Vasopressin Neurons ◽  
The Brain

Projections from vasopressin, oxytocin, and neurophysin neurons to neural targets were examined using the immunoperoxidase method. In the rat, neural target areas were found in portions of the limbic system, diencephalon, mesencephalon, brain stem, and spinal cord. In the human, only target areas in the brain stem and spinal cord were investigated. The projections to these targets derive from hypothalamic magnocellular vasopressin or oxytocin neurons, as well as from parvocellular vasopressin neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus. In neural target areas, axo somatic, as well as axodendritic, contacts are made. The findings suggest that these projections interact with other neurons, rather than release hormone into the bloodstream.

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