Review of Neuroanatomy

Meninges

The brain is encased in several fluid filled sacs which keep it from escaping by leaping out of your skull. These are the pia mater (gives it the silky, fresh sheen of a young brain), the arachnoid mater (hatchery for your brain-spiders), and the dura mater (your brain's hat).

Somatomotor Cortex

At the pre-central gyrus, the somatormotor cortex controls your muscle movement. It is often nicknamed the "humunculus" after the small man that lives there and controls your movements via a series of levers and buttons. This term is antiquated and racist, and these men prefer the term "Humunculed-Americans".

Babinski Reflex

Named after the famous physician and foot-enthusiast Joseph Jules Felix "The Babinskinator" Babinski, it is a test to localize a motor deficit lesion. It is performed by stabbing the patient in the foot with a stick and observing carefully. If the patient yells "Upper motor lesion, you f&#$%#@!" then the lesion is probably in the cortiospinal tract. If the patient yells "Lower motor lesion, you f#$%#$%&!" then the patient is faking it and deserves to be stabbed again.

Basal Ganglia

The basal ganglia are a complicated set of inhibitory and excitatory signals that regulate our movement. To help understand this, I've created this helpful figure:

Pictured above: Basal ganglia (simplified)

Neuro Study Tips

As we approach the last exam of our first year of medical school, I thought it would be appropriate to share some helpful tips in my repertoire as a neurobiology major in college.

Tip #1: The Soul

While Descartes thought the seat of the soul was in the pineal gland, modern scientists have discovered that "soul" resides in the Soul and Pre-Soul Areas in the parietal lobes of rhesus monkeys. When stimulated by an electrode and "Get Up Off of That Thing" by James Brown, the primates demonstrate the phenomenon known as "Hot Pants."

Tip #2: Freud

We are all familiar with Freud's concept of the Id, Superego, and Ego, but did you know that Freud discovered even more complex divisions of the human psyche? For instance, he was the first to describe the Uber-ego, which is every human's drive to become a psychological icon despite the lack of any evidence to support their theories, and the Unter-id, which is the uncontrollable emotion evoked when forced to learn about a pre-scientific concept in a post-graduate education.

Tip #3: Tracts

There are many spinal and brain tracts, carrying all sorts of afferent and efferent information. Their names all sound about the same, have crazy acronyms, and synapse onto a huge range of complex nuclei. But here is an easy way to remember them! ...well, uh, nevermind. I can't think of anything. You are probably just going to have to get these questions wrong. Hmmm...rubrospinal tract? That's something, right?

Tip #4: Performance-enhancing drugs

We learned that boosting NMDA receptors can improve memory, so this is the perfect time to apply our knowledge! I, myself, have been injecting myself with experimental retroviruses carrying several different species-worth of genetically altered NMDA receptors. I can feel myself remembering things better, but there are some weird side-effkjlag;iubaeiaenrgaeigbareg12421323234.

Tip #5: Giving up/Taking One for the Team

Let's face it, this is the last exam of the year. You are probably excited about your upcoming summer trip to Africa/South America/Rural Alabama and your upcoming malaria medication/typhoid vaccine/racism vaccine. You know what, you deserve a break. Kick back, relax, and drive down that average score for the rest of us. You/We deserve it.

That's it! Good luck, and keep on "studying"!

Pictured above: "Studying," or rearranging the ties in my closet.