Teach the Brain Forums

OECD expert Wrote:Hi Rob,

If you are interested in neuron-glia interactions, check out the recent article, "Purinergic signalling in neuron-glia interactions," which can be retrieved from:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query...med_docsum

Truly fascinating...

Cheers,
Christina

_____________________________
June 12, 2006
Hi Christina,
Good Evening,

Yes, I have been very interested in the glial-neural interaction for about a year. I have taken my lumps so to speak from neuroscientists who not only have questioned by knowledge in the area but my personal integrity enough to ask me to speak and then refuse to let me at the last moment. Their knowledge in the area of glial cells is anachronistic but I was finally backed up by a first rate neuroscientist from Japan. The neuroscientist from Japan also as do I feel that the glial cell is salient in the whole scheme of communcations [neural] and the life and death of very serious movement disorders.

I have an opportunity to spend a week at Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory in July with Dr. Ben Barres from Stanford leading the week's discussion on glial cells.

In May, 2003 Dr. Ben Barres wrote about glial cells in Volumne 43, Issue 1. Pages 4-5, Copyright@ 2003...retrieved from Dr. Barres' work posted on the internet url recently.

The Original Article called: What is a glial cell? Caught my interest because of the following quotes:
l. The last few years has seen a revolution in our understanding of glial cells.

2. We now know that astrocytes, in addition to mopping up transmitters and maintaining extracellular ion levels, actively control synaptogenesis, synapse number, synapse function, and synaptic plasticity.

3. Glial cells sculpt the structure and electrical properties of axons by controlling their diameter, the spacing and clustering of ion channels at the node and pranode.

Dr. Barres asks these very important interrogatories about neuron-glial interactions..

1. Exactly how is metabolic labor divided between neurons and glia and what is the point of this?

2. What is the identity of the signals flowing between neurons and glia and what is their purpose?

3. Might astrocytes be the primary snythesizers of neurotransmitters or their immediate biochemical precusors, rather than neurons? Do astrocytes play a role in inducing and maintaining the blood-brain barrier, or is another cell type responsible?

4. Do astrocytes actually help to signal neuronal survival in vivo? And what is the point of reactive astrocytes, are they good, bad, or both? I know a little convincing data that addresses most of these questions, but newly developed methods for genomics, proteomics, RNA interference, neural cell purification and culture, all offer a way forward. These new methods provide powerful new ways to better characterize glia and their interactions with neurons, and to perform question-oriented, hypothesis-driven research about glial function.

5. An important, closely related set of quesitons is raised by recent studies on neural stem cells and gliogenesis reviewed. These papers review the amazing finding of the last few years that some "glia" can actually behave as multipotent neural stem cells that can generate neurons, both in vitro and in vivo. Radical glia and subventricular zone astrocytes have all been shown to do this in developing and adult brains, respectively. A subset of spendymal cells also appears to have the capacity to generate new neurons, although they now appear to lack the self-newing ability of a true stem cell. In addition, in the adult chick, Muller glial cells in the culture can be induced with certain growth factors to become multipotent neural stem cells. It is quite important to note however, that most glial cells in the CNS are not neural stem cells, but rather a distinct subset.

I am deeply into the works of Dr. Ben Barres of Stanford University regarding contemporary thought of glial cells and deeply into the works of Dr. Sapolsky also of Stanford who has great skill in communicating causation of acute and chronic stress.....think glucocorticoids as Dr. Sapolsky would say.

This isn't even the tip of the iceberg.....
Be well,
Rob

June 29, 2006

Good Evening ,

Glial cells are getting our attention. Retrieved from the internet today from the internet. URl: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v8/n...n1498.html
Best,
Rob

:tourist: :autumn: Hi... Great explanation of neurotransmission from neuron to neuon via the SYNAPSE....The Url was retrieved from the internet today. Full credit goes to Sumanasinc. .com....Please visit when you can. Please check out the terrific url....

:am: Rob


URL: http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/ani...ology.html

Please take a look at the previous posting just before this one. I posted this quite a long time ago....It is the best url vial hyperlink that I have seen thus far.
Be well,
Rob

If you are an educator and you teach anything about the brain, you must thoroughly be well educated on the synapse(s). This is not only critical but in my opinion you would be committing fraud as a teacher without profound knowledge is this area...think about it.

I am not trying to be harsh, but just realistic. Retrieved from the internet....URL: http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/ani...ology.html
Be well,
Rob:yes:

As I mention previously, if you teach about the brain, CNS, PNS etc. you must know how a synapse works...otherwise you are committing fraud with your students....retrieved from the internet 4-11-08; 2-10-08;URL: http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/BI...round.html URL: http://www.biologymad.com/master.html?ht...System.htm; URL: http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/fara...kNERV.html; URL: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Human_Physi...ous_System, URL: http://www.answers.com/topic/synapse?cat=health; URL: http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/synapse.html; URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/synapse.html; URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/synapse.html; URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/synapse.html

SYNAPTOGENESIS: Retrieved from the internet 4-12-08, URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synaptogenesis

Very good book: Synaptic Self: This is an editors review of the book. I read it and it was highly recommended at Harvard in the early 2003; URL: Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
A middle-aged neuroscientist walking down Bourbon Street spots a T-shirt that reads, "I don't know, so maybe I'm not." This stimulus zooms from eyes to brain, neuron by neuron, via tiny junctions called synapses. The results? An immediate chuckle and (sometime later) a groundbreaking book titled The Synaptic Self. To Joseph LeDoux, the simple question, "What makes us who we are?" represents the driving force behind his 20-plus years of research into the cognitive, emotional, and motivational functions of the brain.

LeDoux believes the answer rests in the synapses, key players in the brain's intricately designed communication system. In other words, the pathways by which a person's "hardwired" responses (nature) mesh with his or her unique life experiences (nurture) determine that person's individuality. Here, LeDoux nimbly compresses centuries of philosophy, psychology, and biology into an amazingly clear picture of humanity's journey toward understanding the self.
Retrieved -4-10-08 from the internet: URL: http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/63/7/1155

Equally readable is his comprehensive science lesson, where detailed circuit speak reads like an absorbing--yet often humorous--mystery novel. Skillfully presenting research studies and findings alongside their various implications, LeDoux makes a solid case for accepting a synaptic explanation of existence and provides to the reader generous helpings of knowledge, amusement, and awe along the way. --Liane Thomas

From Publishers Weekly
Despite ongoing debate about the root cause of psychological disorders, most agree that the development of the self is central to the distinction between normality and psychopathology. Yet neuroscientists have been slow to probe the biological basis for our sense of self, focusing instead on states of consciousness. LeDoux (The Emotional Brain), professor at New York University's Center for Neural Sciences, has come up with a theory: it's the neural pathways the synaptic relationships in our brains that make us who we are. Starting with a description of basic neural anatomy (including how neurons communicate, the brain's embryological development and some of the key neural pathways), LeDoux reviews experiments and research, arguing that the brain's synaptic connections provide the biological base for memory, which makes possible the sense of continuity and permanence fundamental to a "normal" conception of self. Writing for a general audience, he succeeds in making his subject accessible to the dedicated nonspecialist. He offers absorbing descriptions of some of the most fascinating case studies in his field, provides insight into the shortcomings of psychopharmacology and suggests new directions for research on the biology of mental illness. While some may disagree with LeDoux's conclusion that "the brain makes the self" through its synapses, he makes an important contribution to the literature on the relationship between these two entities. Agents, Katinka Matson and John Brockman. (On-sale: Jan. 14); URL: http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/synapse.html; URL: http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/63/7/1155; URL: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/7818; URL: http://www.essortment.com/all/anatomynervous_rmej.htm


Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Be well,
Rob aka segarama:yes:

As I have mentioned...if you are teaching about the brain and you do not know about the "synapse", you are a fraud. Retrieved from the internet 4-18-08: URL: http://butler.cc.tut.fi/~malmivuo/bem/bembook/05/05.htm
Dig deep,
Be well,
Rob aka segarama:anyone:

Based on the tremendous number of responses from the public, there is a honest desire to learn about the synapse....congratulations ....retrieved from the internet 4-23-08: URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/plasticity.htm: URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...140956.htm, URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/c...ynapse.htm, URL: http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=13990, URL: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/6/145350/399

Best,
Rob aka segarama:yes:

4-27-08

Very interesting book entitled Nerve Endings:The Discovery of the Synapse
.....The Quest to Find How Brain Cells Commuicate.....by Richard Rapport, M.D.

PETER GALISON, author of Einstein's Clocks and Poincare's Maps and Mallinckrodt Professor of the History of Science and of Physics, Harvard University writes the following of the reverse side of the book: " Despite___or through___their antagonism, longstanding scientific enemies Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Camillo Golgi managed to piece together the discovery of the synapse, fundamentally changing our picture of how the brain works. Richard Rapport, a neurosurgeon, has elegantly and compactly told this story in a way that opens both the scientific and the personal to a wide audience."

Ramon y Cajal: and Camillo Golgi: Retrieved from the internet 4-27-08: URL: http://www.jyi.org/features/ft.php?id=662
REALLY GREAT.....retrieved from the internet 4-28-08, URL: http://www.childrenshospital.org/researc...vel51.html
URL: http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/nervoussy...orial.html
URL: http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_01/d...m_ana.html
http://outreach.mcb.harvard.edu/animations/synaptic.swf
http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/basics_ch1_3.html

Synapse and Neuronal Communication (Retrieve from the internet) April and May 2008

URL: http://icarus.med.utoronto.ca/neurons/index.swf
URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/basics_ch1_3.html
URL: http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~todorov/cogs...slides.pdf
URL: http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index...jID=AP1201
URL: http://www.mind.ilstu.edu/curriculum/neu..._intro.php
URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/60455.php
URL: http://www.bs.jhmi.edu/neuroscience/huganir/focus.html
URL: http://www.rikenresearch.riken.jp/research/225/
URL: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=keep...he-neurons
URL: http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/fall2004/sy...index.html
URL: http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index...jID=AP1201
Best to you,
Rob aka segarama:detective:

The synapse is essential for a person to live....are you thoroughly teaching the correct function of the human synapse? Retrieved from the internet 6-10-08; URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/basics_ch1_3.html

Retrieved from the internet on 6-10-08: URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXx9qlJetSU http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/health...ref=slogin
URL: http://www.albany.edu/faculty/cafrye/aps...ology.html
URL: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/brain/10.asp
URL: http://www.willamette.edu/~gorr/classes/...brain.html
URL: http://www.ifisiol.unam.mx/Brain/synap.htm
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...130855.htm
URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...130855.htm
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4427704.stm
URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/h...6531.story
URL: http://www.nida.nih.gov/MOM/TG/momtg-introbg.html
URL: http://aboutyourbrain.com/NeuroscienceBasics/page1.html
URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html
URL: http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/brai...ystem.html
URL: http://www.alzheimer.ca/english/alzheime...ite/06.htm
URL: http://www.brain.ubc.ca/Synapses.php
URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/plasticity.htm

Be well,
Rob aka segarama :yes:

As I have mentioned a number of times ...the neuron's ability to communicate with other neurons is critically impaired if we do not have a clean synapse to effectuate message transmission. I also mentioned that if we are teaching about the brain or the nervous system in general without fully knowing about the synapse, we are probably committing fraud. The following URL retrieved from the internet on July 3, 2008 should help in our understanding.
URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/basics_ch1_4.html
URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/plasticity.htm
URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/memory.htm

Best to you,
Rob aka segarama :yes:

If we are able to understand these particular URL retrieved July 13, 2008,and August 1, 2008 then we can most likely apply it to our future understanding of teaching elementary and middle school children about the brain and education.
URL: http://www.dls.ym.edu.tw/chudler/introb.html
URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
URL: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/synaptic/public...ch1_3.html
URL: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
URL: http://www.aocs.org/news/story.cfm?id=668
URL: http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/fall2004/sy...pses2.html
URL: http://www.cdrewu.edu/cosh/biomedical_sc...acalle.htm
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiZLnbKVIhM
URL: http://science-education.nih.gov/supplem...son2-1.htm
URL: http://news.bio-medicine.org/medicine-ne...nds-688-1/
Be well,
Rob aka segarama:am:

This is something to really get your attention if you are interested in the brain.
Retrieved from the internet November 28, 2008. URL: http://www.willamette.edu/~gorr/classes/...brain.html
URL: http://www.ifisiol.unam.mx/Brain/synap.htm
Be well,
Rob aka segarama :yes:

Good url retrieved from the internet today. Gives a good background of neurons, synapses and communications...
URL: http://www.bris.ac.uk/synaptic/public/basics_ch1_3.html
Be well,
Rob aka segarama:yes: