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Neuroanatomy Essay

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Neuroanatomy is the study of structure and function relationships in the brain and nervous system. As this encompasses a study of both macroscopic and microscopic structures, a variety of histological tools have been developed to enable that endeavor

Microscopy
Microscopy is an important technique for studying the structure and function of the nervous system. This is enabled through the use of histological staining, in which a tissue of interest is preserved and sectioned, and then stained using one of an array of techniques.

Histological staining provides contrast to the tissue so that details can be distinguished. For example, gray matter contains neuron cell bodies, or somata, that can be stained to become visible under a microscope. Nissl stains are useful for gray matter. For white matter of the brain, dyes such as Luxol Fast …show more content…

Histochemistry studies can reveal the molecular interactions of structures, such as neurotransmitter production and activity, metabolism, immune function, and other interactions. Histochemistry can also be used to reveal chemoarchitecture or chemical neuroanatomy.

Immunocytochemistry is a type of histochemistry that makes use of antibodies to visualize cell types, axons, neuron structures, glial processes, blood vessels, or molecular components of cells like neurotransmitters and intranuclear proteins. Immunocytochemical studies can also be used for genomics studies of nervous system cells. Combining these techniques with a fluorescent stain allows visualization of enzyme binding sites and reactions.

In situ hybridization is also an important histochemical tool for neuroanatomy studies. It uses synthetic ribonucleic acid (RNA) probes to visualize complementary messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts of genes in the cell. This can help to reveal gene function.

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