Study on histogenesis of functional areas of human foetal cortex

Abstract

New developments in the study of brain are among the most exciting frontiers of contemporary neuroscientific research for the clinical or surgical practitioner. Increasing knowledge of neurotransmitters and of their discrete localization in the cortex, the uppermost region of the central nervous system permits new modes of pharmacological management of some major neurological disorders like Parkinson s disease, Huntington s chorea and several others. Current concepts of the supplementary motor area, basal ganglia and cerebellum providing movements Programs serving volitional, goal-directed purposes to be turned on, monitored, and then switched off by sensory motor cortex are more interesting and important. Knowledge of such basic physiological mechanisms may open the way for additional new uses of pharmacotherapeutic agents. During the past decades, negative influences on brain development were observed in laboratory animals and in man. Such influences include malnutrition, infectious diseases, poisons and drugs and ionizing radiation. The extent of the disturbance can be judged as early as in the foetal phase of life, when data collected from the growth of damaged brains are compared with the normal values. The significance of knowledge pertaining to growth functions of the human brain and its various regions has achieved special recognition recently due to awareness of enhanced experimental vulnerability of the developing brain to injury such as toxins.. Knowledge of normal development of different functional areas are required in order to determine whether all brain regions are equally susceptible and at which developing stage it is vulnerable to various modes of injury. Understanding of brain organization has come principally from two different classes of experiments. First microelectrode unit mapping techniques have evolved progressively, leading to more and more refined definitions of cortical field boundaries and internal field orders.