| Cellular
Neuroscience:
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [8-28-2018] Q: I'm a biology major who is interested in neurobiology. Is psych 1 a prerequisite? A: Psych 1 is a prerequisite only for Psychology majors. You are welcome to take the course. Q: I am interested in taking your class, Psych 120: Cellular neuroscience. I have taken Psych 1 but not Stanford's Bio core. Do I have enough biology background to take your class? A: The Bio core is not a pre-requisite. You are welcome to take the class. Q: What are these "non-spiking" neurons that Prof. Wine talked about in his lecture? A: We usually talk about neurons as though they all had a bushy dendritic field, a cell body, and a long axon with action potentials, but this isn't always true. As pointed out in class, neurons come in many different shapes and sizes and vary in composition. Our stereotypical neuron is largely based on large (and easy to study) sensory and motor neurons. However, many small neurons have short axons or no axon at all; therefore, they contact only immediate neighbors and are called "local neurons". In these cells, there are only the graded potentials in the dendrites and cell body (soma0 to relay information. These can spread through the membrane in any direction, but they decay over short distances. The advantage is that the output is graded and not the all-or-none, quantum release of an action potential. The horizontal cell in the retina is an example of a local neuron. (R.R) Q: There seems to be a lot of detail regarding the anatomy of the brain which has not really been covered in class. Will we be responsible for this material? A: It isn't possible to cover all of the material in the book during the course of the lectures. Q: How much will the exams will be based on the assigned readings? There seems to be a lot of info in the readings which you do not cover in lecture. A: The exams will cover the assigned readings as well as the material presented in class. Q: I was just looking back at chapter 1 and was wondering if we are expected to know all of the scientists (besides Ramon y Cajal and the ones you talked about in lecture) and their contributions. Also, are we to know everything to the level of detail in the book--or should we focus more on lecture? A: You don't need to know all of the scientists, but their contributions are another matter. For the second part of your question, see other answers. Q: A couple chapters in our book involve a lot of physics, especially when they are explaining ion channels. How much of this do we need to know? A: The amount of physics you will be expected to know is about the amount covered in the background section and its notes. Q: I was wondering if there was an alternate time to take the midterm exam? A: No. Q: I was wondering how you would recommend studying for the midterm. Should we focus on the lecture notes more than the book? A: The test will be at least 50% lecture, so definitely spend time on the lecture notes. Then I would focus on the parts of the book that overlap with the lecture. These are key ideas and you should try and understand them. After that I would prioritize the book as follows: figures and figure legends, concepts represented by the chapter headings, and finally the rest of the book. Finally, come to office hours if you have questions. Q: We talked about AChE being in the synaptic cleft. Is this in the pre or post synaptic cell? A: It is external to both and in between the two cells. It is synthesized by the postsynaptic cell (muscle fiber) and then secreted. Q: Is our Psych 120: Cellular Neuroscience final exam cumulative? A: Yes, it is. In particular, we will again present concepts from the first part of the course that people found difficult, such as reversal potentials. Q: I feel like I have a good understanding of the material and the properties of neurons, without really understanding all the stuff in the book about circuits ("circuit analysis"). I am not an electrician and the maps look quite daunting and I feel that learning all the things about circuits would take a lot of energy - and I understand the neuron anyway. So my question is, "is this ok, or should I be able to look at a map of a circuit and know what its different parts are?" A: It is impressive that you understand how neurons work without understanding electrical circuits. Even Hodgkin and Huxley weren't able to achieve that level of understanding. Q: I was mulling over the monkey that was used in the experiment about brains and localization of different areas and what functions they control. I was wondering, do you feel it's necessary to use the animals? You said that each animal's brain structure was different depending on what was most important in that animals life. That being the case, is it efficient or even effective to apply knowledge obtained about rat brains or monkeys' to humans? The only thing I can think of is that there may be some conservation of proteins or pathways amongst the different animals, but I'm hoping you can provide more insight. A: Yes, it is essential to use animals. I hope to develop that point clearly as we proceed through the class, but keep asking me about it if I don't. It is also essential to be certain they do not suffer as a result of the experiment. With regard to the differences in brain structure among animals--it is by studying those differences and similarities that we learn how brains develop, evolve and function. Thus, it is not only necessary to study animals, it is necessary to study many different species. I hope this helps. (Note: "necessary" and "essential" take for granted that you share the goal of understanding the world we live in, and that you consider pain and suffering to be bad. |
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