AMHERST COLLEGE
BIOLOGY 35 - NEUROBIOLOGY
SPRING 2006

Rat cortex Golgi sectionProfessor: Stephen George
Office: Life Sciences 228; Lab: Life Sciences 215
Office hours: Tuesdays 9:00 - Noon, Fridays 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Phone: extension 2477; E-mail; Home page
This course is also in the "Blackboard" system at Amherst, which can be accessed by enrolled students and also by guests.

CONTENTS:

Course Outline
Readings
Laboratory
Course Calendar
Grading
Image: Rat cerebral cortex, Golgi preparation, by students in Biology 35

NEUROBIOLOGY COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS: SPRING 2006

 DATE

 

CLASS

TEXT

PAPERS

     OPTIONAL

 ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NERVOUS SYSTEMS

 Jan.30

 

Nervous system organization & cell biology

1 (3-9, 19-22)

 

1 (9-19), FN3, FN4

Feb. 1

 

Development: neurogenesis; migration

23 (479-497)

 

FN15, 16, 17

 3

 

Axon outgrowth; synapse formation

23 (497-512)

 

FN18, FN19

6

 

Cell death; trophic factors

23 (512-523)

 

FN20, FN21 

8

 

Synapse elimination; denervation; regeneration

24 (525-548)

 

   

 10

 

The role of electrical activity in development

 

(5), (22)

 

13

 

Neurogenesis in adult mammals

 

  (19) +

 

14

 

Optional evening review session

 

 

 

 15

 

In-class exam [January 30 - February 13]

 

 

 

 ELECTRICAL SIGNALLING IN NEURONS

17

 

Ionic and electrical state of neurons

4 (all)

 

2 (all)    

 20

 

Membrane potentials

5 (all)

 

FN6

 22

 

Ionic basis of the action potential

6 (91-98)

 

H2

24

 

Voltage clamp analysis

6 (98-103)

 

 

24

 

Problem set 1 due

 

 

 

27

 

Hodgkin-Huxley model

 

(8)

 

 Mar. 1

 

Neurons as conductors

7 (all)

 

Appendix A, FN5

 3

 

Gating currents; introduction to channels

6 (103-112)

 

 

 6

 

Channel structure and function

3 (all)

 

H3-5

 

 

Problem set 2 due

 

 

 

8

 

Molecular basis of voltage sensitivity

 

(9), (11)

H16-19

8

 

Optional evening review session

 

 

 

9

 

Evening exam [February 17 - March 8]

 

 

 

10

 

Are brains computers?   If so, classical or quantum?

 

(3), (23), (18)


SYNAPTIC TRANSMISSION BETWEEN NEURONS

13

 

Electrical and chemical transmission

9 (155-166)

 

FN7, FN11

15

 

Conductance mechansisms: excitation

9 (166-170)

 

FN12

17

 

Inhibitory synaptic transmission

9 (171-176)

 

 

 

 

Spring break

 

 

 

 27

 

Presynaptic inhibition

 

(4)

8 (all) , 16 (all)

 29

 

Indirect transmission                       

10 (all)

 

FN10

31

 

Neurotransmitter release

11 (all)

 

 

Apr. 3

 

Synaptic plasticity: introduction to LTP

12 , 15 (291-304)

 

15 (304-314), FN55

 5

 

Synaptic plasticity: LTP mechanisms

 

(13), (17)

 

5

 

Problem set 3 due

 

 

 

 7

 

(No class today) Transmitter biochemistry

13 (all)

 

14 (all), FN8, FN9

  NEUROBIOLOGICAL CASE STUDIES: CODING, DISEASE, EPIGENETICS

10

 

Neurons as computers; neural coding

7 (128-131)

 

FN13

10

 

Optional evening review session

 

 

 

11

 

Evening exam [March 13 - April 7]

 

 

 

 12

 

Coding II: the role of spike timing

 

(16), (20)

 

14

 

Neurons and populations: localization of sound

 

(6), (12)

 

17

 

Neurobiology of disease: Epilepsy

 

(21)  

 

19

 

Motor control systems

22 (447-462)

 

Rest of 22 ,FN29-36

 21

 

Neuronal epigenetics

 

(25)  

 

24

 

Molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases

 

(1), (14), (24)

26

 

Neuroscience and free will

 

(2), (10), (15)   

    SENSORY NEUROBIOLOGY: THE VISUAL SYSTEM

28

 

Introduction to sensory systems

17 (all)

 

18 (all), FN23, FN24

May 1

 

Human vision: absolute sensitivity

 

(7)

 

  3

 

Photoreceptors and photochemistry

19 (379-394)

 

 

 5

 

Vision: retina

19 (394-405)

 

FN28

 8

 

Visual cortex: basic physiology

20 (all)

 

 

 10

 

Visual cortex: circuitry & functions 

21 (all)

 

 

 12

 

Visual system plasticity

25 (all)

 

FN22

 

 

 

 

 

Final exam, scheduled [April 10 - May 12]

Chapter references are to Nicholls et al., From Neuron to Brain , 4 th ed. (2001)

“FN” refers to chapters in Zigmond et al., Fundamental Neuroscience (2003) ;

“ H” refers to Hille, Ionic Channels of Excitable Membranes , 3rd ed. (2001)


READINGS FOR BIOLOGY 35, Spring 2006

Textbook : Nicholls, J.G., Martin A. R., Wallace B. G., and P. A. Fuchs. (2001) From Neuron to Brain , 4th edition. Sunderland , MA : Sinauer Associates. (Available at the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop; several copies on reserve in the Science Library)

Scientific Papers (to be accessed on-line – link to the electronic reserves is found in the Course Documents section of the Blackboard course site

(1) Beckman J, Estevez AG, Crow JP, and Barbeito (2001) Superoxide dismutase and the death of motoneurons in ALS. Trends in Neurosciences 24 (Suppl.) 15-20.

(2) Beckman M (2004) Crime, culpability, and the adolescent brain. Science 305 596 - 599.

(3) Churchland PM and Churchland PS (1990). Could a machine think? Sci. Am. 262 (1), 32-37.

(4) Dudel J and Kuffler SW (1961) Presynaptic inhibition at the crayfish neuromuscular junction. Journal of Physiology 155 : 543-562.

(5) Fawcett JW, O'Leary DD, Cowan WM (1984) Activity and the control of ganglion cell death in the rat retina. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci . 81 : 5589-93.

(6) Hall JL (1965) Binaural interaction in the accessory superior olivary nucleus of the cat. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 37 : 814-823.

(7) Hecht S, Shlaer C, and Pirenne MH (1942) Energy, quanta, and vision. Journal of General Physiology 25 : 819-840.

(8) Hodgkin AL and Huxley AF (1952c) The dual effect of membrane potential on sodium conductance in the giant axon of Loligo. Journal of Physiology 116 : 497-506.

(9) Horn R (2005) How ion channels sense membrane potential Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 102: 4929-4930.

(10) Hume D. (1746) Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding , excerpts.

(11) Jiang Y, Ruta V, Chen J, Lee A, and Mackinnon R (2003) The principle of gating charge movement in a voltage-dependent K+ channel. Nature 423 : 42 - 48.

(12) Joris PX, Smith PH, and Yin TC (1998) Coincidence detection in the auditory system. Neuron 21 :1235-1238.

(13) Kakegawa W and Yuzaki M. A mechanism underlying AMPA receptor trafficking during cerebellar long-term potentiation. (2005) Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 102 : 17846-17851.

(14) Krantic S, Mechawar N, Reix S, and Quirion R (2005) Molecular basis of programmed cell death involved in neurodegeneration. Trends in Neurosciences 28 : 670-676.

(15) Luna B, Garver KE, Urban TA, Lazar NA, and Sweeney JA (2004) Maturation of cognitive processes from late childhood to adulthood. Child Development 75: 1357 - 1372.

(16) Mainen ZF and Sejnowski TJ (1995) Reliability of spike timing in neocortical neurons. Science 268 : 1503-1506.

(17) Moretti P, Levenson JM, Battaglia F, Atkinson R, Teague R, Antalffy B, Armstrong D, Arancio O, Sweatt JD, and Zoghbi HY. (2006) Learning and memory and synaptic plasticity are impaired in a mouse mdel of Rett syndrome. Journal of Neuroscience 26 : 319-327.

(18) Penrose R. (1989) Minds, machines and mathematics. In: Mindwaves, C. Blakemore and S. Greenfield, eds. London : Blackwell.

(19) Rakic P. (2002) Adult neurogenesis in mammals: An identity crisis. Journal of Neuroscience 22 : 614-618.

(20) Reich DS, Victor JD, Knight BW, Ozaki T, and Kaplan E. (1997) Response variability and timing precision of neuronal spike trains in vivo. Journal of Neurophys iology 77: 2836-2841.

(21) Rhodes TH, Lossin C, Vanoye CG, Wang DW, and George AL (2004) Noninactivating voltage-gated sodium channels in severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci . 101 : 11147-11152.

(22) Ruthazer ES, Akerman CJ, Cline HT (2003) Control of axon branch dynamics by correlated activity in vivo. Science 301 : 66-70.

(23) Searle, J. (1990). Is the brain's mind a computer program? Scientific American 262 (1), 26-31.

(24) Von Lewinski F Keller BU (2005) Ca 2+ , mitochondria and selective motoneuron vulnerability: implications for ALS. Trends in Neurosciences 28 : 494-500.

(25) Weaver IC, Cervoni N, Champagne FA, D'Alessio AC, Sharma S, Dymov S, Szyf M, and Meaney M. (2004) Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior. Nature Neuroscience 7: 847 - 854.

 


NEUROBIOLOGY LABORATORY: Life Sciences Room 145

Week

Laboratory

February 2

No lab

February 9

Culture of embryonic neurons

February 16

Introduction to intracellular recording

February 23

Ionic basis of the resting potential: crayfish opener muscle

March 2

Computer lab: Hodgkin-Huxley simulations

March 9

Impulses in a giant axon system: Earthworm nerve cord

March 16

Immunohistochemistry I

March 30

Immunohistochemistry II

April 6

Computer lab: synaptic physiology

April 13

Crayfish neuromuscular junction

April 20

Sensory physiology: Crayfish stretch receptor

April 27

Visual system: frog tectum recording

May 4

Lab practicals

May 11

Lab practicals

 


NEUROBIOLOGY CALENDAR OF IMPORTANT DATES, SPRING 2006

Wednesday, Feb. 15

Exam 1 (in class)

Friday, Feb. 24

Problem set 1 due

Friday, March 3

Problem set 2   due

Monday, March 6

Resting potential lab report due

Thursday, March 9

Exam 2   (evening)

Thursday, March 30

Giant axon lab report due

Wednesday, April 5

Problem set 3 due

Tuesday, April 11

Exam 3 (evening)

Thursday, April 27

Stretch receptor lab due

Week of May 4

Lab practical exam

Week of May 11

Lab practical exam

??

Final exam (to be scheduled by the registrar)


How Grades Will Be Determined

 

Exam 1

12

Exam 2

22

Exam 3

22

Final

20

Problem sets

4

Lab work

4

Lab practical

3

Lab writeups

9

Responses to papers

4

Total
100


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