Building brains
Subtitle: an introduction to neural development
By: David Price ... [et al.].
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Chichester, West Sussex, UK; Hoboken, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 331
ISBN-13: 9780470712306; 9780470712290; 9780470979631; 9780470979624; 9780470979884
Subjects: Nervous system; Developmental neurobiology; Neurogenesis; Neurons; Anatomy & histology; Nervous System; Physiology; Growth
Description: The development of a brain from its simple beginnings in the embryo to the extraordinarily complex fully-functional adult structure is a truly remarkable process. Understanding how it occurs remains a formidable challenge despite enormous advances over the last century and current intense world-wide scientific research. A greater knowledge of how nervous systems construct themselves will bring huge benefits for human health and future technologies. Unravelling the mechanisms that lead to the development of healthy brains should help scientists tackle currently incurable diseases of the nervous system such as autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia (to name but a few), discover more about the processes that cause the uncontrolled growth associated with cancer and develop possible treatments. David Price provides a highly visual and readily accessible introduction to the main events that occur during neural development and the mechanisms by which they occur. Aimed at undergraduate students and postgraduates new to the field, who may not have a background in neuroscience and/or molecular genetics, it explains how cells in the early embryo first become neural, how their proliferation is controlled, what regulates the types of neural cells they become, how neurons connect to each other, how these connections are later refined under the influence of neural activity including that arising from experience, and why some neurons normally die.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Models and methods for studying neural development; title: The anatomy of developing nervous systems; title: Neural induction : an early example of how intercellular signalling determines cell fates; title: Patterning the neuroectoderm; title: Neurogenesis : generating neural cells; title: Neuronal migration; title: How neurons develop their shapes; title: Axon pathfinding : the long and winding road; title: Map formation; title: Maturation of functional properties; title: Life and death in the developing nervous system; title: Experience-dependent development.