In 1977, Dr. Raymond Damadian performed the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan on a live human patient (Edelman, 2014). MRI is a non-invasive medical imaging technique producing detailed pictures of anatomical structures and physiological processes inside the body (McRobbie et al., 2017). MRI scans are considered safer than CT scans and PET scans as …
Read moreMeasuring brain function: how do fMRI scanners work?
Pyramidal neurons are the primary type of cells in the cerebral cortex; they are made of a cell body called soma, a single axon, an apical dendrite, multiple basal dendrites, and dendritic spines (Megias et al., 2001). Dendritic spines are small neuronal protrusions rising from a neuron’s dendrites; they typically receive excitatory input from one …
The cerebral cortex can be divided into three main parts: the sensory areas, the motor areas, and the association areas. The association cortex is a complex distributed network, receiving information from the primary and secondary sensory and motor areas, as well as the brainstem and the thalamus, processing it, and sending it across multiple pathways …
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder causing a range of psychological symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disordered thinking, and abnormal motor behaviour, and which is considered by many as a neurodevelopmental disorder (Murray & Lewis, 1987; Weinberger, 2003). It affects 0.5–1% of the worldwide population, with a common onset in late adolescence to early adulthood (Perälä …
Neurons interact with each other through electrical events called action potentials and the release of chemical signals called neurotransmitters (Lodish et al., 2000). The neurotransmitter life cycle can be broken down into six component processes: synthesis, storage, release, receptor interaction, reuptake, and degradation (Beckstead, 1996). Each of these steps can be impacted by drugs in …
Depression is a mental disorder characterised by clinical symptoms including low mood, rumination, functional impairment, retardation, and somatic syndromes such as sleep disturbances and loss of appetite (Lorr et al., 1967). Antidepressants were serendipitously discovered in the 1950s, when Iproniazid, a drug originally prescribed as a treatment for tuberculosis, was shown to induce increased vitality …
Read moreThe origins of the monoamine hypothesis of depression
In humans, stress can be defined as an actual or anticipated disruption of homeostasis in an individual (Ulrich-Lai & Herman, 2009). The brain plays a central role in the experience of stressful events and the regulation of stress: it adapts to stress both functionally and structurally, and dictates how individuals cope with stress (McEwen & …