Nerve cells of the cerebral cortex possess an astonishingly complex dendritic tree, on which they receive thousands of synaptic inputs from different sources. Historically, dendrites were considered to be only surface enlarging structures with receptive function. However, theoretical studies in combination with new imaging and electrophysiological techniques developed in the last decades have r...

To reveal molecular determinates that underlie the intrinsic molecular pathways within neurons that support regeneration after injury, a DNA microarray study was performed on axotomized neuronal clusters that were maintained in culture and free from glial and astrocytes contamination. The microarray data indicated that post-injury regenerative sprouting requires two distinct pathways; a cell su...

Correspondence To the Editor: Adenoma of the ciliary pigment epithelium (CPE) is an exceedingly rare tumor that is difficult to clinically differentiate from malignant melanoma. [1] Herein, we report a case of an adenoma of the CPE in Chinese women and discuss the clinical features of this unusual tumor. A 57‑year‑old woman complaining of obviously visual deterioration vision in her right eye f...

Octopamine is a chemical relative of noradrenaline providing analogous neurohumoral control of diverse invertebrate physiological processes. There is also evidence for direct octopaminergic innervation of some insect peripheral tissues. Here, we show that spider peripheral mechanoreceptors are innervated by octopamine-containing efferents. The mechanosensory neurons have octopamine receptors co...

Neurons (Fig 6.1) are cells in the nervous system that are used conduct signals at high speed from one part of the body to another. This enables rapid, precise responses to occur in order to compensate for changes in the environment. Neurons are able to send signals at high speed due to their ability to generate and conduct an electrical signal called an action potential down the length of thei...

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are concentrated in the depths of the postsynaptic folds at mammalian neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) where they facilitate action potential generation during neuromuscular transmission. At the nodes of Ranvier and the axon hillocks of central neurons, VGSCs are associated with the cytoskeletal proteins, beta-spectrin and ankyrin, which may help to maintain ...

INTRODUCTION Despite a long-standing recognition that bioelectric phenomena underpin brain function, fundamental questions remain about how extracellular current flow may influence neural activity and computation. The source of extracellular current flow may be exogenous, electrical exposure or stimulation, or the source may be endogenous, for currents produced by the brain itself. The former h...

T he auditory cortex plays a key role in auditory learning, speech perception, auditory attention, and cognitive analysis of sound. Like other neocortices, it consists of a layered network of excitatory cells and inhibitory interneurons. The inhibitory interneurons comprise only 15–20% of neocortical neurons but are much more diverse than the excitatory cells. Many distinct types of inhibitory ...

In this paper we study the supervised learning in neural networks Unlike the com mon practice of back propagating error feedback by a separate feedback network that must have the same topology and synapse strengths as the feed forward network we propose a new adaptation algorithm by which the same supervised learning as accom plished by the back propagation algorithm can be achieved without usi...