Questions tagged [neuroscience]
The study of the structure and function of the nervous system and its components.
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Does the brain have a clock and can it be sped up?
Before i start, I'm an engineer and have very limited knowledge on biology and neuroscience. My question is, does the brain have a clock like a computer where it has a set processing speed?
Clocks in ...
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0answers
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Is there still a convincing argument/evidence that adult neurogenesis does not exist/play an essential role in NON-Human Primates?
Adult neurogenesis in human-being is a debated topic, and will probably take several years to get resolved.
I am under impression that it is relatively easier to settle the debate on non-human ...
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10 views
Do reflex movements involve information processing?
According to Reflex
A reflex, or reflex action, is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous
movement in response to a stimulus. A reflex is made possible by neural pathways called reflex arcs ...
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1answer
29 views
What do the acronyms in C.elegans neuron names stand for?
In this site, I see a variety of acronymic names for C.elegans neurons but what do these names mean (for example AVAL, AVAR)?
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1answer
26 views
Why does sympathetic activity constrict pulmonary vessels?
I don't know understand why sympathetic stimulation constricts pulmonary vessels?
I thought that the sympathetic nervous system activated the body for physical activity. Physical activity would need ...
3
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1answer
45 views
How do Neurotransmitters get into the neurons?
This may be a dumb question. I'm not a Neuroscientist. I'm just trying to learn more about the brain to improve my AI learning algorithms…
I understand that there are different kinds of ...
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0answers
20 views
Why doesn't action potential takes place in every cell?
I've read that Acetylcholine (ACh) released at synaptic terminal diffuses across synaptic cleft and binds to receptor proteins on muscle cell's plasma membrane, triggering an action potential.
In this ...
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0answers
12 views
Can we build a mind keyboard by tracking neurons which fire when we think of a letter?
I suppose there must be a neuron that fires when a person imagines the letter A, or the letter B... What if we track the activity of those neurons and everytime someone imagines the letter A (or any ...
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2answers
38 views
How do scientists transfer the specific DNA in Optogenetics?
I'm a bit new to genetic modification and I was wondering in Optogenetics (a field in neuroscience) how the scientists transfered the desired DNA strand from the light-sensitive ion channel opening ...
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1answer
21 views
Can upper motor neuron lesions cause hypotonia?
I have been taught that hypotonia is always caused by lower motor neuron lesions while hypertonia is by upper motor neuron lesions. However, I recently learned of an entity called central hypotonia, ...
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Parts of our bodies form during different critical periods. What keeps those parts locked after the period has closed?
Parts of our brains and bodies 'lock' after various critical periods. What keeps those body parts locked after the critical period closes?
For example, our limbs stop growing at a certain length or ...
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45 views
When the present state of knowledge concerning central noradrenergic transmission was established?
Some time ago I began to search for descriptions of the mechanisms responsible for the regulation of noradrenergic transmission in the central nervous system of man and to my great surprise the most ...
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1answer
27 views
What type of movement is “spontaneous movement” if it isnt reflex movement and it isnt purposive movement?
According to Spontaneous and induced fetal activity
Spontaneous motor activity of the foetus depends significantly ot the
foetal age; during the period between the 12th and 16th week it was
...
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2answers
59 views
Why do neurons have long axons but short dendrites?
Cian O'Donnell, a British neuroscientist, originally asked this question on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cian_neuro/status/1075432086692089857. I am not a biophysicist by training but I wonder whether ...
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2answers
98 views
Can light function as a neurotransmitter?
Any animal with an eye has photoreceptors, which are essentially light-sensitive neurons. Green algae have channelrhodopsin, which are ion channels that open and close in response to light. Clearly, ...
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0answers
51 views
Are there any organisms, extant or extinct, that have only one neuron?
Nervous systems are useful in one way because they allow for integration of complex information. They are also useful because they transmit information very rapidly, over a large distance.
However, ...
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0answers
30 views
Action potential frequency presynaptic neuron comared with in post-synaptic neuron/ muscle cells
I am a physicist interested in knowing how the action potential frequency in a presynaptic neuron compares with that in
a) a post-synaptic neuron and
b) membrane depolarisation of muslce cells, ...
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0answers
36 views
How is the electrical potential difference distributed between two stimulating electrodes?
Suppose I set the voltage value of an isolated stimulator with a floating ground. I place one electrode above the spinal cord (positive) and the other placed subcutaneously far away from the spinal ...
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0answers
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Are $DCX^{-}PSA-NCAM^{+}$ neurons the result of adult neurogenesis in human being?
A recent study by Sorrells et al. (2018) has stirred a debate whether human being really do have adult neurogenesis in hippocampus or not.
In a following paper- Adult hippocampal neurogenesis: a ...
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1answer
30 views
In Study from Blue Brain they say position of synapses doesn't change even if they modify neurons, only when they change shape of neuron it changes?
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-blue-brain-accurately-neurons.html
We could vary density, position, orientation, and none of that changed
the distribution of positions of the synapses.....
...
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1answer
19 views
Why do simulations of dichromatic color vision portray medium wavelengths as yellow rather than green?
Please take the time to read & answer this at your own convenient pace.
Is this even the right way to put this?
Do you think this post better belongs in the Physics or Philosophy forums?
This ...
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1answer
55 views
What's the real meaning of “brain shrinkage”?
It is known that some pathologies cause brain shrinkage, for example, it is said that depression causes shrinkage in the hippocampus.
My problem to understand the statement, is that I don't undestand ...
6
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1answer
116 views
Can turkeys run around when their head is cut off like chickens do?
Chickens may run around after their head is cut off if the head is severed near the base of the skull leaving the brain stem intact and missing the jugular vein. This usually only lasts for a few ...
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1answer
71 views
Can neurons take oxygen from air?
Why can't/don't neurons take up atmospheric oxygen or at-least dissolved oxygen (like amoeba does) to survive and do all life processes outside animal body ???
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0answers
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How does axon guidance system precisely targets specific axons?
Axons find their way to the terminus by responding to axon guidance molecules (AGMs) that attract and repel growth cones or make them stir. This I understand.
Through a very specific combination of ...
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1answer
69 views
Do Colorblind People Have Stronger Sensitivity in Their Other Remaining Cones?
I came across this paper Color defect and color theory. The paper explained about how unilateral color blind (people who color blind only in 1 eye) actually see less bright in their color-blind eye (...
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0answers
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To what extent does the distribution of nerual transmiters in the brain vary human to human?
Suppose $x$ is a position in the brain, and $n_i(x)$ is the density of neuro recepter $i$ around that point. Any given human will have some distribution of neruo recepters $n_i(x)$ through out there ...
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49 views
How does acetylcholine (aCh) cause erection?
I have read this article on physiology of erection :
Activation of cholinergic receptors on the endothelial cell by acetylcholine or stretching of the endothelial cells as a result of increased ...
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1answer
47 views
Has any scientist elaborated on the “selfish neuron” hypothesis?
Daniel Dennett references a talk by Sebastian Seung, where the latter speaks about "selfish neurons". I've been trying to learn more about this hypothesis, but cannot seem to find anyone who has ...
3
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1answer
46 views
What happens in a nerve cell when a thought is generated?
I know basic nerve physiology of impulse conduction and transmission, but I don't know what actually happens in a nerve cell when a thought is generated. When a external stimulus (like tactile ...
3
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1answer
45 views
How does the brain fake itself into hearing our own sounds even when we are not speaking?
Typically When we are talking to our own selves at any time in the day,the Brain thinks that it's me who's speaking , how does it create illusion of speaking ?
4
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1answer
66 views
Why is peripheral vision not bleached by daylight?
In daylight, rods are known to be bleached: we have to wait some time after going into darkness before scotopic vision becomes effective. But, as I understand, peripheral vision is also mostly due to ...
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1answer
24 views
How are sound waves amplified while traveling within the cochlea?
How are sound waves amplified while traveling from the basal membrane to apical membrane within the cochlea? Are they amplified by the movement of the stapes?
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2answers
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Red neurons - Acute neuronal injury
“Red neurons” are evident by about 12 to 24 hours after an irreversible hypoxic/ ischemic insult. The morphologic features consist of shrinkage of the cell body, pyknosis of the nucleus, disappearance ...
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1answer
50 views
Why is atropine a CNS stimulant, although it blocks the muscarinic receptors in the brain?
I know that atropine is a muscarinic antagonist, so why does atropine have excitatory actions on the brain while it is blocking muscarinic receptors?
4
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1answer
71 views
What physiological processes give rise to a linear cell survival curve?
If we plot the number of surviving cells in a structure over time (assuming no replacement), the shape of that curve should imply something about the underlying process responsible for cell death. For ...
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2answers
68 views
Why does resting potential not become continually more negative?
(Firstly, I know this is similar to other questions, but I have read those answers and they do not really cover this topic).
My understanding of resting potential: action potential is not being ...
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0answers
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Electrical mobility of biological relevant ions in solution
I've been trying to find references of electrical mobility of ions relevant in neuroscience (K+, Cl- Ca2+, HEPES). This is important to calculate liquid junction potentials of electrophysiology ...
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0answers
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Once neurotransmitters bind to its receptors, how does the post synaptic neuron “know” when to start a new action potential?
My textbook seems to gloss over this subject. Once the post-synaptic receptors are activated, do they cause particular ion channels to open, letting positive charge into the cell and inching the ...
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1answer
102 views
What happens in a brain of a person suffering with apathy?
According to this article
Apathy is a profound loss of motivation not attributed to decreased
level of consciousness, cognitive impairment, or emotional distress.
Apathy refers to a set of ...
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2answers
88 views
What is Modulation Power Spectrum?
I'm reading this paper https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4562283/ , but I cannot make sense of what MPS nor how should I read the pictures that make use of this method.
The authors say
...
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1answer
36 views
Abrupt movements of birds and reptiles vs. smooth movements of mammals
How can it be explained (in evolutionary and/or neuronal terms), that the spontaneous movements of birds and reptiles are seemingly "abrupt" and not so "smooth": Their spontaneous movements seem to ...
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0answers
61 views
Can cognitive functioning of the human brain change the physical state of the brain? [closed]
Can cognitive functioning of the human brain change the physical state of the brain? E.g. does self-awareness, self-reflection change the number of neurons or synapses among neurons? I.e. I am trying ...
3
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1answer
23 views
Flow diversion for cerebral aneurysms or stabilizing the hemodynamics?
I'm doing research of flow diverter for cerebral aneurysms applications and I'm wondering the reason behind stent placement underneath of cerebral aneurysms is to divert the flow or stabilize the ...
23
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3answers
9k views
Do oysters feel pain?
Do oysters feel pain when you bite into the inside, or when you crack open the shell? I tried google searching it to no avail. When you bite inside the oyster or when you break the shell to open the ...
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0answers
43 views
What is the signal that indicates which neurons Schwann cells should myelinate versus which should remain unmyelinated?
Schwann cells are neuroglial cells that produce myelin in the peripheral nervous system.
However, not all axons are myelinated - some will remain unmyelinated.
There must be some signal that ...
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2answers
26 views
How to determine if the amount of manganese chloride will change neural resting potential
If I am treating an organism in MnCl2 dissolved in water, how do I determine if the amount of Cl (in MnCl2) will change the neural resting potential Oor if it will influence motoneurons?
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VC06 neuron of c.elegans
My understanding was that all neurons and their synapses of worm c.elegans are already listed.
As source of this map I'm using following databases (both should contain same information):
...
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1answer
73 views
Why are the hormones dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline and serotonin so ubiquitous across the animal kingdom?
As far as I know there is no reason for the makeup of a given hormone to be universal as it merely serves as a carrier from one part of the brain to another. So why are the above hormones seen across ...
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1answer
27 views
loops in neuron synapses
If we see at the connectome of c.elegans, it is easy to find "loops", in the simplest case, a neuron that synapses to another and this one backward to the first.
By example, neuron RIAR has 13 ...
