Mapping the Brain and Its Functions Integrating Enabling Technologies into Neuroscience Research (1991) / Chapter Skim
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Advancing Neuroscience in the Decade of the Brain
Advancing Neuroscience in the Decade of the Brain
Pages 25-47
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From page 25... ...
The challenge now is to establish a comprehensive initiative that will increase the ability of neuroscientists to make discoveries about the brain and to apply this knowledge to the many mental and neurological disorders that affect humankind. The progress made in this area has occurred primarily through the concerted efforts of increasing numbers of individual investigators, working mostly in small groups on highly specific projects.
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From page 26... ...
A Brain Mapping Initiative could identify those aspects of information exchange infrastructure that are critical to addressing a broader goal, one that will include the advantages of single-investigator projects and yet also yield the benefits of a larger, coordinated program. The Brain Mapping Initiative is intended to subsume all the proposed aspects of a National Neural Circuitry Database outlined in the charge to this committee.
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From page 27... ...
All brain activity results from electrical and chemical communication among neurons (the primary signaling cells of the brain) , each of which can communicate with other neurons using signals at rates of up to 1,000 events (impulses)
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From page 28... ...
Electronic information management provides assistance at a high level of synthesis in much the same way that hand calculators and word processors facilitate tasks like balancing a budget or creating a document. To draw an analogy, neuroscientists are like puzzle builders who must integrate and fit together numerous small pieces of information derived from the hundreds of available techniques.
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From page 29... ...
Two major kinds of information management are the most critical for neuroscience: (I) databases, which allow at least partial automation of the task of relating diverse data types in a systematic, efficient manner, and (2)
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From page 30... ...
In contrast to molecular biology, understanding the diversity inherent in brain structure and functioning requires the three-dimensional display of many types of experimental information. Because the fundamental complexity of neuroscience data exceeds that of molecular biology data, the development of information management technologies to enhance neuroscience research will present great challenges.
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From page 31... ...
From the retina, information is transmitted to a pair of nuclei on each side of the brain, called the lateral geniculate nuclei, in a highly ordered pattern so that each half of the visual field is precisely mapped onto the lateral geniculate on the opposite side of the brain. So well understood is this map that differing kinds of visual deficits can indicate the exact location of damage (a frequent occurrence following stroke or as a result of the pressure of a growing tumor)
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From page 32... ...
Much visual information ultimately reaches neural centers involved in cognitive functions and emotions. Understanding these parallel, distributed pathways has important implications for understanding the deficits from brain injury, including stroke.
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From page 33... ...
The combination of complex physiological responses, complex anatomical pathways, and hundreds of neurochemical interactions creates a system that is extremely difficult to disentangle. Despite all the information we possess, we still do not understand the fundamental nature of visual perception, nor do we understand the specific computations carried out in the vast networks at each stage of information processing.
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Such receptors have been mapped to specific nuclei of the brain. Thus, the notion that certain drugs have specific actions in discrete brain regions offers a possible route for disrupting the effects of those drugs.
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From the spinal cord, information about injury is transmitted to numerous brain regions, including specific relay nuclei that, in turn, transmit it to the sensory part of the cerebral cortex and to nonspecific nuclei that disperse the information through their abundant connections to other brain regions.
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The need for enhanced communication in neuroscientific disciplines is well illustrated by the example of pain research and treatment. In the clinical arena, neurosurgeons have had a long-standing interest in finding ways to disrupt appropriate brain areas to alleviate intractable pain.
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From page 37... ...
This work has brought the first hints that damage to the nerves can result in permanent changes in the spinal cord, and possibly in other brain regions, that may well be responsible for intractable pain syndromes. Prevention of these changes by early intervention may help to alleviate a sizable proportion of the human suffering that results from this kind of pain.
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. Thus, a person with schizophrenia will exhibit some combination of the following: hallucinations and delusions, blunted or inappropriate emotional expression, inability to derive pleasure from normal experiences, cognitive difficulties, and abnormal socialization.
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Brain imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET scanning) and its variations, can be used to measure such functions as energy metabolism, blood flow, and receptor binding; localized electrical activity can be recorded using electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography.
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PET studies of cerebral metabolism have confirmed this dampened activity of the frontal cortex and have further suggested increased activation of other brain regions. PET studies of dopamine receptor binding in schizophrenic patients are just beginning to yield interesting, although sometimes conflicting, information.
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From page 41... ...
Impairment arising from alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and mental illness also takes a significant toll. It is estimated that more than 60 million Americans suffer from such mental illnesses as schizophrenia, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, various types of dementia, eating disorders, childhood and adolescent disorders, and sleep disorders, and more than 20 million Americans suffer from alcohol or drug abuse (Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, 1990; Gerstein and Harwood, 1990; Rice et al., 1990~.
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From page 42... ...
. SOURCE: For neurological disorders, NINDS, November 1989 and NANCDSC, January 1989; for mental illnesses, Rice et al., 1990; for alcohol and drug abuse, ADAMHA, 1990 and Gerstein and Harwood, 1990.
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From page 43... ...
Many other factors in addition to technology have contributed to the growth of neuroscience for example, increased appreciation of the importance of the fundamental biological processes that underlie brain disorders, especially mental illness. In the past decade, the groundwork has been laid for tackling some of the most intractable neurological problems, including spinal cord injury, epilepsy, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases.
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From page 44... ...
The National Science Foundation has a long history of funding basic neuroscience research, and other federal research support derives from such agencies as the Department of Energy, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Naval Research (Table 2-3~. Outside the federal government, a number of private agencies and foundations, such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the MacArthur Foundation, provide support for neuroscience research (Table 2-3~.
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From page 45... ...
TABLE 2-2b Investment in Neuroscience Research (in thousands of dollars) by the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health A~ninis~abona Agency 1988 1989 1990 National Institute of Mental Health 118,803 153,881 180,161 National Institute on Drug Abuse 38,000 54,000 66,000 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 18,609 23,904 29,313 Total 175,412 231,785 275,474 aAll numbers are actual.
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From page 46... ...
The incorporation, through a Brain Mapping Initiative, of enabling technologies in the field of neuroscience research is an appropriate strategy to future breakthroughs. References Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration.
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From page 47... ...
1990. The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Mental Illness.
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