We express this by saying that many aspects of brain evolution have been conserved over phyla. The main goal of today's seminar is to gain familiarity with the terms of neuroanatomy. The below sections give a flavor for the organization of a typical mammalian brain and are taken at a level where you can see the entire layout of the nervous system. Some of the areas visible in these images are mentioned below. Yet very often we believe that there is a common functional role to the neurons which make of a brain nucleus.
Dendritic tree remains within the confines of the nucleus.
The modern experimental investigation of the brain can be assumed to start with the development of silver staining by Camillo Golgi. The advantage of intracellular labelling is a much higher resolution than with Golgi staining. The disadvantage is that only one neuron is stained at a time. On top of describing neurons by their structure, it is also very useful to characterize neurons by accurately analyzing their electrical activity. This can be done with the aid of a stereotaxic instrument.