AMHERST COLLEGE
INTRODUCTION TO NEUROSCIENCE
Course Outline and Readings - Spring, 2006
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Date |
Topic |
Reading |
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Introduction |
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January 30 |
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Introduction to neuroscience |
Chapter 1 |
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February 1 |
SG |
Approaches to studying brain and behavior |
Chapter 2 |
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3 |
ST |
Outline of neuroanatomy |
Chapter 7 (163-174, 191-252); Chapter 15 (505-517) |
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Development of the nervous system |
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6 |
SG |
Proliferation, migration, cell death |
Chap. 7 (175-190); 22 (704-716) |
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8 |
Axon pathfinding; synapse formation |
Chapter 22 (716-722) |
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|
10 |
Role of electrical activity in development Sheetz AJ, Williams RW, and Dubin MW Severity of ganglion cell death during early postnatal development is modulated by both neuronal activity and binocular competition. Visual Neuroscience 12 (1995) 605-610. |
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Electrical signalling |
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13 |
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Membranes and membrane potentials |
Chapter 3 |
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15 |
Action potential |
Chapter 4 |
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17 |
Conductance mechanisms Stringer, J. L. Regulation of extracellular potassium in the developing hippocampus. Developmental Brain Research 110 (1998) 97‑103. |
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Synaptic transmission |
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20 |
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Chemical and electrical transmission |
Chapter 5 (98-118) |
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22 |
Postsynaptic potentials; neural integration |
Chapter 5 (119-129) |
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23/24 |
Exam 1 |
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27 |
ST |
Neurotransmitter systems |
Chapter 6 |
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March 1 |
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Castner, S. A., Xiao, L., and Becker, J. B., Sex differences in striatal dopamine: in vivo microdialysis and behavioral studies. Brain Research 610 (1993) 127-134. |
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3 |
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Morgan, et al, Divergent changes in D-1 and D-2 dopamine binding sites in human brain during aging. Neurobiology of Aging 8 (1987) 95-201. |
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Sensory Neuroscience |
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6 |
SG |
Vision: transduction; receptive fields |
Chapter 9 (280-304) |
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8 |
Information processing in retina & LGN |
Chapter 9 (304-312); 10 (313-324) |
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|
10 |
Visual cortex Chapter 10 (324-348) Ferster D, Chung S, Wheat H. Orientation selectivity of thalamic input to simple cells of cat visual cortex. Nature. 380 (1996) 249‑52. |
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13 |
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Visual plasticity; critical periods |
Chapter 22 (722-732) |
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15 |
Somatosensory system |
Chapter 12 (396-421) |
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17 |
Pain Chapter 12 (422-435) Eisenberger, N.I., Lieberman, M. D., Williams, K. D. Does rejection hurt? An FMRI study of social exclusion. Science. 302 (2003) 290‑292. |
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[Spring break] |
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27 |
ST |
Chemoreception Chapter 8 Heyer, B.R., Taylor-Burds, C.C., Mitzelfelt, J.D., and Delay, E.R. Monosodium glutamate and sweet tastesDiscrimination between the tastes of sweet stimuli and glutamate in rats. Chemical Senses 29 (2004) 721-729. |
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29 |
Auditory system |
Chapter 11 |
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31 |
Auditory
system II Alladi, P.A., Roy, T., Singh, N., and Wadhwo, S., Prenatal enrichment with species-specific calls and sitar music modulates expression of Bcl-2 and Bax to alter programmed cell death in developing chick auditory nuclei. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience 23 (2005) 363-373. |
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Sensorimotor control systems |
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April 3 |
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Spinal mechanisms |
Chapter 13 |
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5 |
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Brain mechanisms Chapter 14 Perese, D. A., Ulman, J., Viola, J., Ewing, S. E.,
and Bankiewicz, K. S. A 6-hydroxy-dopamine-induced selective parkinsonian rat
model. Brain Research 494 (1989) 285-293. |
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6/7 |
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Exam 2 |
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Neural basis of behavioral plasticity |
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10 |
SG |
Human and animal memory |
Chapter 23 |
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12 |
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Cellular mechanisms of neural plasticity |
Chapter 24 |
|
14 |
Does LTP underlie human and animal memory? Rogan, M.T., Stäubli, U., Ledoux, J.E. Fear conditioning induces associative long‑term potentiation in the amygdala. Nature 390 (1997) 604‑607. |
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Neuroendocrine and motivational systems |
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17 |
ST |
Endocrine systems |
Chapter 15 (497-505);Chapter 17 |
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19 |
Bakker, J., Honda, S., Harada, N., and Balthazart, J. Restoration of male sexual behavior by adult exogenous estrogens in male aromatase knockout mice. Hormones and Behavior 46 (2004) 1-10. |
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21 |
JPB |
Feeding
behavior |
Chapter 16 (523-538) |
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24 |
ST |
Stress
I |
Chapter 21 (680-686) |
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26 |
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Stress II Hui, Z., Guang-Yu, M., Chong-Tao, X., Quan, Y., and
Xiao-Hu, X. Phenytoin reverses the
chronic stress-induced impairment of memory consolidation for water maze
training and depression of LTP in rat hippocampal CA1 region, but does not
affect motor activity. Cognitive
Brain Research 24 (2005)
380-385. |
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27/28 |
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Exam 3 |
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Diseases of the nervous system |
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May 1 |
RF |
Biochemical
basis of neurodegenerative diseases: Huntington=s
and ALS Guest Lecture: Dr. Robert Ferrante Box 13.1 p. 445 |
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3 |
ST |
Addiction Chap.15 (517-521); 21(600-604) Box 16.3 p. 541 Boudreau, A.C. and Wolf, M. E. Behavioral sensitization to cocaine is associated with increased AMPA receptor surface expression in the nucleus accumbens. Journal of Neuroscience 25 (2005) 9144-9151. |
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5 |
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Depression Chapter 21 (686-694) Dalla, C., Antoniou, K., Papadopoulou-Daifoti, Z.,
Balthazart, J., and Bakker, J.
Oestrogen-deficient female aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice exhibit
'depressive-like' symptomatology. Eur.
J. Neurosci. 20 (2004) 217-228. |
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8 |
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Schizophrenia Chapter 21 (694-701) Flagstad, P., Glenthoj, B.Y., and Didriksen, M. Cognitive deficits caused by late gestational
disruption of neurogenesis in ratsa preclinical model of schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology 30
(2005) 250-260. |
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10 |
SG |
Alzheimer disease Box 2.2 p. 34-35 Jankowsky JL, Melnikov T, Fadale DJ, Xu GM, Slunt HH, Gonzales V, Younkin LH, Younkin SG, Borchelt DR, and Savonenko AV. Environmental enrichment mitigates cognitive deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neuroscience 25 (2005) 5217-5224.
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12 |
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Review
/catchup session |
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Final
exam: 3-day take home, due during finals period |
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Dates |
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Lab |
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Jan. 31, February 1 |
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No lab |
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February 7, 8 |
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Neurohistology |
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February 14, 15 |
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Electrophysiology I |
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February 21, 22 |
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Sheep brain I |
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February 28, March 1 |
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Sheep brain II |
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March 7, 8 |
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Sheep brain III |
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March 14, 15 |
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Lab practical |
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Spring break |
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March 28, 29 |
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Electrophysiology II |
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April 4, 5 |
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Electrophysiology III |
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April 11, 12 |
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Surgery demonstration |
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Friday, April 14 |
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Electrophysiology lab report due |
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April 18, 19 |
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Lesions |
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April 25, 26 |
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Behavior / c-fos |
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May 2, 3 |
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HPLC |
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Friday, May 5 |
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Draft lab report due |
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May 9, 10 |
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Data discussion |
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Friday, May 12 |
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Finished lab report due |
Textbook: Mark Bear, Brian Connors, and Michael Paradiso (2001) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. The same text and edition was used last year. The book is available at the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop.
Other readings: All scientific articles listed in the Course Outline will be supplied by electronic reserve via the Course Documents section of our course=s Blackboard site. You are expected to print these out, read them, put a response on the Discussion Board the night before the class when the article is discussed (details to be given in class about this), and bring the printout to class. Some articles are accessible only via the Amherst network domain, so Five College students will need to print these while on the Amherst campus, or let Prof. George know to make a .pdf file available to you via e-mail. Lab materials will be handed out.
Laboratory: Labs will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday from 2:00-5:00 in Life Sciences 145.
Exams: Three midterm exams will take place on February 23/24, April 6/7, and April 27/28. Two dates are shown for each exam because each can be taken either on Thursday evening from 8 - 10 PM, or Friday during class and for an additional hour, 11 AM - 1 PM. Each exam is worth 15% of the final grade. The final exam is a take-home exam. You can pick up the exam any time between Friday, May 12 and Tuesday, May 16, and turn it in 3 days after you pick it up. The final exam is worth 25% of the final grade.
Lab Practical: There will be a practical exam covering sheep brain anatomy in the laboratory. This exam will be taken on Tuesday or Wednesday, March 14 or 15 and is worth 10% of the final grade.
Lab reports: You will prepare two written lab reports. One covers two weeks of electrophysiology (March 28/29 and April 4/5). This report is due on Friday, April 14, and counts 8% of the final grade). The second report is on the dopamine lesion lab sequence (April 11/12, 18/19, 25/26, and May 2/3.) This report is worth 12% of the final grade). More specific instructions will be provided in lab sections. A first draft of the lesion experiment report is due Friday, May 5, and the final report is due on Friday, May 12.
Guest Lecturers:
Prof. J. P. Baird, Psychology Dept. and Neuroscience Program, Amherst (April 21)
Dr. Robert Ferrante, Research Associate Professor, Boston University (May 1)
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